Issue mapping on the web
Integrated Course Final Synthesis Studio - A.Y. 2015-2016 - Master in Communication Design, Politecnico di Milano
In the 2015/2016 edition of the Final Synthesis Studio we ask students to use information visualization both as an analytical and a communicative tool, to observe, understand, shape and communicate complex phenomena. In this second part of the course, students focussed on a specific issue and were asked to use the web as source of data: adopting approaches identified by the Digital Methods Initiative, they identified places on the medium suitable for the debate analysis. They had to understand its logics, and find a way to collect data on their topic. The result is a digital visual interactive report explaining their exploration, describing methods, tools and issues found in their analysis.
Meteorite on the sharing economy
2015 was declared the year of the sharing economy: it is a phenomenon demanded by the quotidianity of every person, but driven by big companies that are twisting the idea of pure sharing. We tried to explore different themes: the lexical changes of texts related to sharing economy, Uber and its influence on the countries where it acts, how the web talks about the protests through visual information.
Explore the reportThe Milk Myth
Milk is one of the most consumed product all around the world. When we speak about milk we usually mean cows’ milk, but during these last years, more and more people are choosing to switch to, as they say, healthier alternatives. In this research we explored the reasons why people are changing their habits and compared the voice of medicine and journalism on the topic. In the last part we examine how the users perceive milk’s alternatives.
Explore the reportMigration Backstage
The widespread availability and the easy consumption of a film helped a lot to its diffusion in all social classes and in daily life situations. It became an artifact that is not only a false diversion from the reality but a mirror of society, able to spread and convey ideas and behaviors on an increasingly growing public. This is the reason why we decided to go for it: to see how cinema presents to the wide public the theme of migration.
Explore the reportWhen a picture is worth more than 950.317 words
Everyday media organizations flood us with a huge amount of images to report the latest news, trying to provide us with all the things we need to reconstruct the big picture of a given phenomenon. This is true for the European migration crisis as well. Susan Sontag once said, “to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude”. The images used to report a phenomenon are always the result of an editorial choice and all the different photographs that each of us remembers reflect the multitude of opinions on the issue.
Explore the reportWhat prevents Open Access from becoming a major reality
Open Access is a new, alternative way of publishing academic research where scholars themselves - or the funding institutions behind them - pay for appearing on journals, and not for consulting them.Despite having solid advantages and the approval of many countries and institutions, Open Access is still a minor reality and doesn't represent at all a threat for the Subscription publishing model. How is this possible? In order to find an answer, we decided to trace the debate, controversies and widely acknowledged problems of OA.
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