Student Showcase

This page showcases examples of data advocacy projects completed by students at the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Colorado Denver between 2023-2024. These examples illustrate how resources from the Data Advocacy for All toolkit can be successfully applied in the classroom to teach students core skills of data advocacy.

Websites

Education for the Convicted

 Contributor: Chloe Jones, Brandon Lui, Lindsey Guthrie, William Block

Created as part of WRTG 3070: Advocating with Data (Fall 2024, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

For their final project, this student group chose to lobby the University of Colorado Boulder to join an existing prison education program. They created a website to spread their message.


A preview of the Education for the Convicted website homepage.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Prison Reform
  Genre: Website
  License: CC BY-NC-SA

Imagine A World Without Ice

 Contributor: Rey Stone, Jennifer Frame, Luca Hadley, Avery Verbeck

Created as part of WRTG 3070: Advocating with Data (Fall 2024, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

This student group sought to generate a renewed sense of urgency surrounding the issue of glacial recession and global warming via an interactive website.


A preview of the 'Imagine a World Without Ice' website homepage.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Environment
  Genre: Website
  License: CC BY-NC-SA


Magazines

The CU Boulder South Controversy

 Contributor: Anonymous

Created as part of WRTG 3070: Advocating with Data (Fall 2024, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

For their final project, this student group investigated a controversy over land development on the University of Colorado Boulder's South Campus. They created a magazine to educate the local community about the pros and cons of the project.


A preview of the PDF magazine showing a chloropleth map of voting patterns in Boulder, Colorado.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Environment
  Genre: Magazine
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA


Op/Eds

Pedestrian Safety in the Age of Growing Vehicle Sizes

 Contributor: Tristan Barnes

Created as part of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design (Fall 2023, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

This illustrated op/ed uses images and data to support its argument that increasing vehicle sizes have seriously impacted the safety of pedestrians. It touts the benefits of smaller cars and advocates for stricter safety measures for vehicle design in the United States.


Screenshot of the title and byline of the article with a stock image of police tape around the scene of a car accident

  Type of Data Advocacy: Pedestrian Safety
  Genre: Op/Ed
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA


White Papers

Accessibility in the ATLAS Building at the University of Colorado Boulder

 Contributor: Kai Franks

Created as part of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design (Fall 2023, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

This white paper uses original research to document the number of doors that can and cannot be opened using push buttons in the ATLAS building at the University of Colorado Boulder. It finds that the ATLAS building is in compliance with minimum ADA requirements, but advocates for additional push buttons to improve accessibility on exterior doors and the entrances to popular workspaces and labs..


Screenshot of an isotype data visualization showing the number of doors with and without functioning push buttons in the ATLAS building at the University of Colorado Boulder

  Type of Data Advocacy: Accessibility
  Genre: White Paper
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA

CU Tuition Breakdown: White Paper

 Contributor: Anonymous

Created as part of WRTG 3070: Advocating with Data (Fall 2024, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

For their final project, this student group at the University of Colorado investigated where their tuition dollars go. As a group, they composed this White Paper to synthesize their research on the topic and the rhetorical situation prior to undertaking advocacy efforts.


A preview of the white paper showing a pie chart of the CU Boulder Current Funds Budget for fiscal year 2024.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Fiscal Responsibility
  Genre: White Paper
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA

Why Teachers Are Leaving the Classroom

 Contributor: Mathew Marquez

Created as part of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design (Fall 2023, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

This white paper analyzes the results of two NCES studies in an attempt to discover the primary drivers of turnover in the K-12 teaching workforce. Ultimately, it concludes that more study is needed. .


Screenshot from the student sample white paper showing a bar graph with the results of a 2012 NCES survey

  Type of Data Advocacy: Education
  Genre: White Paper
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA


Dataset Documentations

Colorado Air Quality

 Contributor: Anonymous

Created as part of WRTG 3035: Technical Communication and Design (Fall 2023, taught by Nathan Pieplow at the University of Colorado Boulder)

In keeping with the call for rich dataset documentation issued by Timnit Gebru et al. in "Datasheets for Datasets," this student sample provides not only technical documentation of an air quality dataset, but also a detailed data biography and an ethnographic assessment of the broader context to which this data collection effort belongs.


A preview of the AirQuality 2018 dataset documentation that students produced, specifically with links to the dataset the project is analyzing, a summary of the project, keywords, and a paragraph about other purposes the dataset could be used for.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Environment
  Genre: Dataset Documentation
  Format: .pdf
  License: CC BY-NC-SA


Presentations

Gun Ownership and Gun Deaths

 Contributor: Rachel Marentes

Created as part of ENGL 1020: Core Composition I (Spring 2024, taught by Dr. John Tinnell at the University of Colorado Denver) as part of a Data Storytelling unit

This presentation surveys and critically reflects on statistics associated with gun violence, such as why gun owners claim to carry guns and the paradox that people often carry guns to feel safer out of fear that other people might have guns. Blending big data visualization with tragic stories of specific gun deaths, this presentation seeks to add statistical evidence and emotional appeals to advocate for more strict gun regulations.


A still from the video presentation. It shows a student presenting a slide that says ‘Gun Violence by Rachel Marentes.’ On the slide, there is also an image of a poster made by a protester that shows a drawing of bloody shoes with the words ‘It doesn’t have to be this way’ and ‘say no to gun violence’ written on it.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Gun Violence
  Genre: Data Storytelling Presentation
  Format: .mp4

Homelessness Beyond the Stereotypes

 Contributor: Carlos Martinez Ynsunza

Created as part of ENGL 1020: Core Composition I (Spring 2024, taught by Dr. John Tinnell at the University of Colorado Denver) as part of a Data Storytelling unit

This presentation focuses on the question of how people become homelessness and draws on several data visualizations to explain how a variety of factors, causes, or life crises are often at play, most of which have nothing to do with the stereotype of drug addiction. From this empathetic vantage point, the presentation then explores possible solutions and best practices, both for individual citizens and local governments.


A still from the video presentation. It shows the student—Carlos, a masculine individual wearing a black hoodie, speaking to the camera—presenting three graphics that show the rate of homelessness per 10,000 people in the general population. The graphic on the right provides specific information for Arizona, the one on the left shows comparative rates of homelessness across the entire United States, and the bottom graphic provides specific information for Colorado.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Unhoused/Homelessness Advocacy
  Genre: Data Storytelling Presentation
  Format: .mp4

How We Perceive Risk

 Contributor: John Bordali

Created as part of ENGL 1020: Core Composition I (Spring 2024, taught by Dr. John Tinnell at the University of Colorado Denver) as part of a Data Storytelling unit

This presentation explores the question of how we assess (and often mis-assess) the safety risks associated with various natural environments and social activities. It advances data-backed explanations of common factors that tend to shape the intuitive risk assessments people make everyday, including elements that often mislead our assessments such as, for instance, dramatic media coverage that warps our sense of how likely certain events are to occur.


A still from the video presentation. It shows the student—John, a masculine individual with dark black hair and facial hair, wearing a red shirt and over-the-ear headphones—presenting a graphic that shows the difference between public concern or perceived risk and actual hazard or real risk. ‘Terrorist attack’ and ‘plane crash’ have more public concern than actual hazard, and ‘heat,’ ‘traffic accident,’ and ‘cancer’ have more actual hazard than public concern. At the bottom of the graphic, there is a note that reads: ‘Adapted from Susanna Hertrich data visualization (www.susannahertrich.com’)

  Type of Data Advocacy: Public Safety
  Genre: Data Storytelling Presentation
  Format: .mp4

Rehabilitation vs. Punishment

 Contributor: Ella Ames

Created as part of ENGL 1020: Core Composition I (Spring 2024, taught by Dr. John Tinnell at the University of Colorado Denver) as part of a Data Storytelling unit

This video presentation provides a data-informed, comparative analysis of prisons in Norway and the United States, with emphasis on the statistics detailing the different outcomes associated with these two very different prison systems. Whereas the US system focuses on punishing inmates, Norway prioritizes rehabilitation. The presentation draws on research and data to argue in favor of the Norwegian approach and its potential to serve as a model for other countries aiming to humanize and improve their own criminal justice systems.


A still from the video presentation. It includes the words 'Rehabilitation v.s. Punishment' at the top of the image, and below there is a photo of a hallway of a prison facility. There are windows and technical equipment lining the right side of the hallway, and cells on the left. Two hands from a black individual rest through one of the cells.

  Type of Data Advocacy: Prison Reform
  Genre: Data Storytelling Presentation
  Format: .mp4