TGIC
2019
TESAS: an open data platform for regional revitalization
I designed the experience for TESAS, a data platform that turns open government data into something anyone can explore without Excel skills.
Overview
Making open data usable for everyone
Taiwan faces a declining population, a falling birthrate and an uneven development gap between urban and rural areas. In response, the Executive Yuan is actively promoting its "Regional Revitalization Policy", using data analysis and statistical methods to drive population growth and encourage young people to return to their hometowns and develop local, characteristic industries.
This website system explains local creation to users. Through its database, it also lets more governments, civil society groups and individuals use the data to verify their assumptions when making decisions or building business models, and to create more value.
The challenge
In Taiwan, we don’t often use data to make decisions. The government has provided multiple data platforms full of .csv and .xls files. There is a huge amount of open data, but how do people actually use it? Without Excel or other data analysis skills, no one can take the first step, no matter how many valuable resources exist.
Research
Understanding regional revitalization
Building empathy
The term "Regional Revitalization" originated in Japan. In 2019, Taiwan also proposed Regional Revitalization goals built around three elements, aiming to revive the population, economy and industry of rural areas and create diverse employment opportunities.
I didn't know this topic when I started, so I read related articles and studied what Japan had done, to better understand the issues facing our society and what Taiwan could learn from them.
Process
Setting goals: usable and inspiring
Design
Design highlights
User experience design for a tool website. Unlike the previous "database platforms", which might offer only .xls download buttons, we designed the experience so users have a more engaging way to work with the data.
Customize what you need without Excel skills. By clicking on the map, users get to know their hometown better. We also provide several distinct graphs to observe.
Clear tutorials. Step-by-step images show users how easy the tool is to use, so that later on they can discover more on their own.
Reflection
What I learned
Working with the public sector
This was my first project with the public sector. Compared with private-sector cases, public projects can be more idealistic, and the resources are very different and interesting. Open data like this is much less likely to be available in the private sector.
Knowing my hometown and other people's
Because I started without knowing the topic, I did a lot of research. It helped me understand the issues our society is facing, and seeing the efforts Japan has made, and what Taiwan can learn from them, was my biggest takeaway from this project.
