On the third day of Dashboard Week, we faced an interesting challenge: to develop a dashboard that would track and categorise various movies, TV shows, books, and other media related to Star Trek. Let’s look at the step-by-step process I used to tackle this challenge.
Usually, a project like this would start with brainstorming and sketching out ideas. However, the dataset we were given was quite plain and didn’t have a lot of exciting information for analysis. This made coming up with a creative idea a bit tricky. To keep things moving, I decided to start cleaning and organising the data while thinking about what the dashboard could look like.
Using Alteryx, I first combined the nine different tables, made sure the data types were correct, and grouped similar fields together. I also added a field to show where each piece of data came from. While working on this, I found a field that showed whether the owner of the data had watched or read a specific episode or book. This gave me the idea to create a dashboard that could track what you’ve watched, suggest what to watch next, and provide some statistics about your viewing habits.
One important feature I wanted to include was the total time spent watching Star Trek. Some values were missing from the data, but with the help of Bing’s chatbot, I filled in the gaps. I also added a new rating field, letting users rate and compare different episodes and books. Even though the dataset didn’t have this information, I created it using a method that followed a normal distribution, adding a touch of realism. Here is what the complete workflow looks like.
When it came to designing the dashboard, I was inspired by websites that track different kinds of media. I wanted my dashboard to have three main sections: a list of all the Star Trek media, an analysis area, and a section that suggests what to watch next based on your ratings and viewing history. Unfortunately, I couldn’t build everything I planned in just one day, so I focused on part of the analysis section. Even with this limitation, I was happy with the final result, especially the visual details like the rounded bar charts.
The third day of Dashboard Week ended with the successful creation of a tool that adds to the Star Trek viewing experience, showcasing both creative thinking and careful attention to detail.
