Part 3 – Communicating Data

Electronic Tools Side Event

UNECE Aarhus Convention

1st Meeting of the Parties

Lucca, Italy

October 21-23, 2002

Frances Stanley-JonesInternational Campaign for Responsible Technology GIS Research Group

Outline of this module

Communicating data– Why is it important?– To whom are we communicating?– How can we communicate authoritatively?– Challenges.

Ways to communicate data– GIS/Maps– Raw data and visualizations of data– Statistical communication

Why is this important?

A community monitoring project aims to convince people (often skeptical people) of something based on information collected.

You will be communicating to: politicians regulators

international organizations scientists

peers media

Communicating to scientists

“The data on the right clearly show concentrations of the chemical are higher in food grown near town A”.

“The data suggest that the river near town A is contaminated with this chemical”.

concentration of chemical in food

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

town A town B town C

units

of c

once

ntra

tion

fruit

vegetables

fish

Communicating to media

Our river water and air are horribly polluted!

Our children are getting sick.

The local authorities are doing little or nothing about it!

Ways to communicate results

Information sheets– survey forms and tallies

Statistical procedures and manipulation– data plots, statistical tests

Web-based communications– submitting to online databases

GIS/mapping tools Graphical representations

Information sheets

Definition:– Communicating data with a simple tally or in tabular form or

fact sheet or press release. Advantages:

– Very simple and cheap to prepare.– Can be very powerful in their straightforwardness.

Disadvantages:– Sometimes not effective at conveying lots of data or complex

relationships. Examples: (see next page)

Why focus on lindane? (from http://www.pan-uk.org/banlindane/index.htm)

Lindane is linked with serious health problems including breast cancer and may also disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system. It is hazardous both to the people who use it and those exposed to it in the environment or in their food (see PAN UK's factsheet on lindane).

Cases of human poisoning by lindane have been reported in Europe. Children are significantly more susceptible to its toxic effects.

Lindane is a possible human carcinogen according to the International Agency for the Research on Cancer and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Lindane is an endocrine disrupter which is capable of imitating certain hormones in humans. There is a significant body of evidence which suggests that where lindane is used, the incidence of breast cancer is higher.

The acceptable daily intake for residues of lindane in the European diet may be exceeded by up to 12 times as suggested by recent data published by the joint Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation Codex Committee.

Lindane is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) candidate according to the UN Environment Programme. There is concern that heavy usage in tropical zones may allow percolation of residues through the global environment to end up in cold regions such as Scandinavia, Canada and Antarctica.

Lindane is highly volatile, and when applied, the pesticide enters the atmosphere and is later deposited by rain. It is also leached into surface waters and even into ground water. Lindane has been found in increasing concentration in the marine environment, and particularly in the North Sea.

Lindane is fat soluble and can bioaccumulate through food chains as is common with other organochlorine pesticides. Residues have been detected in the kidneys, livers and adipose tissue of a wide range of wild animals and birds, and in human body fat. It is highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates and fish.

Statistical graphics

Definition:– Using a plot of data to demonstrate trends or quantitative

relationships. Advantages:

– Usually simple to prepare and understand– Effective for emphasizing relationships between numbers

Disadvantages:– They can be confusing and misleading

Examples:– Bar charts, time series, scatter plots, pie charts

A bar chart works well for simple comparisons

concentration of chemical in food

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

town A town B town C

un

its

of

con

cen

tra

tio

n

fruit

vegetables

fish

A time series can show trends through time

South San Francisco Bay Dissolved Copper Datashowing the SSO range

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Nov-88 Jul-91 Apr-94 Jan-97 Oct-99

Dis

so

lve

d C

u (

µg

/L)

CTR criterion = 3.1 ug/L dissolved

range of SSO for copper, 5-12 ug/L dissolved

A scatter plot can highlight subtle differences and relationships

amount of chemical by body weightin three towns surveyed

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

body weight (kg)

amo

un

t o

f ch

emic

al (

un

its)

town A

town B

town C

A pie chart drives home simple comparisons

Over-the-Counter

Applications50%Structural

Pest Control25%

Agriculture15%

Landscape Maintenance

10%

Sources of pesticide pollution

GIS/mapping

Definition:– Geographic Information Systems– Data that has to do with a particular place – a map and database

of information linked to the map by location of certain features Advantages:

– VERY powerful way to store and convey lots of information about a region of any size in an understandable fashion.

– Can use GIS to quantify risk by combining layers of data Disadvantages:

– Usually requires specialized expertise and software (but this is becoming more and more available)

Examples: (on following pages)

Information - Database associated with the map

Geographic - MapWater quality sampling points

Land Use

Land Ownership

County Lines

Rivers and Streams

Systems – Context with other GIS layers for decision making

GIS is a computer system for mapping and analyzing things that happen at specific locations

GIS data = layer/coverage/theme

The “building block” of GIS

Any data which has been grouped thematically and spatially

Satellite Imagery & Aerial Photos

Scanned USGS Quads

Elevation

Precipitation

Land Use

Land Ownership

Bathymetry

County Lines

Roads

Rivers and Streams

Facility “Footprints”

GIS Data Sets

Stream Crossings

Water quality sampling points, wells, tanks, facilities, diversions, discharges, etc.

Typical use of GIS to make a map showing locations of certain features or hazards on a basemap – use appropriate colors to draw attention to the feature emphasized

Schools, hospitals and parks shown in relation to chemical sites...

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Eco-Maps Serieshttp://www.svtc.org/ecomaps/svtc_ecomaps/index.html

Notice the various layers of information shown on map

An example produced on the web (see ESRI site in resources page). This map shows locations of power plants in a section of the African continent

Produced at http://www.esri.com/data/online/index.html

Another one from the ESRI site – population density in a portion of the African continent

Graphical communication

Definition:– Using pictures to tell a story

Advantages:– Usually an effective way to communicate a lot of

information in an understandable fashion Disadvantages:

– They can be misleading at times or focus on the wrong things or try to say too much.

Examples: (on following pages)

You can say a lot with just a cartoon of something! Is this too busy?

Adding numbers to the arrows would also be good!

Another effective use of graphics to tell a story!

This simpler cartoon is probably easier for the eyes to follow.

Share your experiences!

What sorts of projects have you been involved in where you communicated results?– To whom did you communicate?– What were the challenges in communicating

results?

What additional information or technical resources would be helpful to make your projects more successful?