The subject of Day 4 of Dashboard Week was the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Specifically, their collection of endangered and extinct animals.
When I was young, I remember the excitement I felt walking into the Reptile House at the zoo. For that reason, I chose to focus on their collection of reptiles.
The data I was provided with was acquired from http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/database/zoology/extinct.htm. For each specimen, the dataset contained key species details, including classification information such as X and Y. In addition, it included the nature of the specimen, along with the IUCN Red List status of the species. The Red List is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. It ranges from Least Concern all the way through to extinct. You can see more here.
The data itself required a little cleaning. The species common name was often recorded with multiple variations, and not always in the same order. In Alteryx, added specimen IDs to track each specimens through my work. I split out the list of common names so they could all be used within one field.
The purpose of the viz is to allow the user to gain an overview of the reptile collection at the museum. From there they can search through the collection by class and species, ultimately giving a list of specimens within the collection. The colours on the bar chart also provide information on the Red List status of the animal. By selecting a bar you are also presented with a link to search for that animal on Red List to learn more about the species and the challenges being faced.
This remains a work in progress and can be seen here add link.