Data Visualization

Blog of the Data Visualization & Communication Course at OSB-AUB

This is my favorite part about analytics: Taking boring flat data and bringing it to life through visualization” John Tukey

Speeding, drunk driving main causes of road accidents in Lebanon.

Speeding, drunk driving main causes of road accidents in Lebanon.

In every Lebanese driver, there is a hidden Michael Schumacher inside of him/her. Unfortunately with all NGOs providing all possible resources for the promotion of road safety awareness, car accidents numbers are all the way up. The sad part is that drinking and driving is illegal but do we really abide by this law. When was the last time you called a taxi because you were drunk? And the most important aspect is that car Speed is a competition and a show off.

It was interesting to find through the below dashboard that most car accidents happens during summer season (July and August).

The dataset contains both monthly and yearly statistics of car accidents in Lebanon from 2007 to 2019. This dataset is aggregated by the number of car accidents, the number of injuries, and the number of fatalities.

Culture vs. Female Employment to Population Ratio

Culture vs. Female Employment to Population Ratio

Females in the Arab World are always faced with discriminatory situations in a ‘professional environment’. From personal questions in an interview to on-the-job obstacles, something always has to remind us of who we are and how anchored we are to it. It is not very different around the world, however, females have only recently started to break through the notions of the ‘working man’, proving that the only professional difference between them is inside the minds of those who believe it exists.

When I started exploring the World Development Indicators data on Tableau, I could not but stop at the Employment to Population Ratio. So I developed a dashboard visualized below.

Culture Vs. Female Employment to Population Ratio

As seen on the map, there are big differences in Female Employment to Population Ratios around the world. Looking deeper into the ratios of 2 adjacent but very different cultures, the European Union and Arab Countries – the line graphs to the right -, we can notice the difference in the gaps between female and male ratios. While the Male Employment to Population Ratio is almost the same across both areas, there is a big difference in the female’s numbers, of course affecting the total ratios.

I believe the needed change starts in education – not only that of little girls who need to be equipped by the time they can join the workforce, but also of societies to be welcoming, and supportive of those girls. Many forces enter in this journey, in many cases education is an unaffordable luxury, which is why the intrusion of governments and NGOs is highly needed.

The featured image is from Aptology.

Putting an end to child marriage

Putting an end to child marriage

“Transformation is often more about unlearning than learning”. – Rohr R.

As communities still follow their traditions and norms instead of educating themselves about the harms of child marriage, it continues to pose a threat to future generations to this day. Several factors shown in the dashboard can act as indicators for us to know in which countries this issue still persists. We used tableau to analyze these indicators by country and were surprised with the extent to which this issue is still present to this day and the lack of awareness about it. From our data, we categorized the indicators that are prevalent in our Country and discussed them with Lebanese activists (Mr Joe Maalouf, journalist – Ms. Hayat Mirshad, Head of communication and campaigning at RDFL). We were then able to come up with a clear picture of how the child marriage situation is in Lebanon; and accordingly, came up with solutions to reduce it.

In order to ultimately end child marriage, awareness should be raised to change cultural beliefs and norms.

It is time to put an end to child marriage!