#dataviz tableau aol aim

[dustydata]

A/S/L? - Cal’s AOL Themed Word Tracker!

My wife Becca and I are born trackers. We have an excel spreadsheet that auto-plans our grocery list, we tracked all of Callum’s feedings (and I made a dashboard about it - Cal Tracker 5000), so it was only natural that we would track Cal’s words!

The first reason we tracked his words is the most practical - the doctor always asked us how many words Callum could say so he could tell us if that was “normal” for his age. Wanting to know if Cal was a high achiever was obviously priority #1 for tracking his words. The second reason, was that we wanted to remember what words he said and when he said them. We aren’t the best at making baby books or doing all of that - but we cloud backup all our pictures and videos and track the most important stuff!

So, here’s how the creation of the Cal Word Tracker went down.

Step 1 - The Data

Becca had been recording Cal’s words in a notekeeper on her phone as we heard them. Once i decided that i wanted to build a dashboard on this stuff, I made a google sheet with the word, date, and word order #. There were two reasons for this. 1 - we could both enter words into the shared word sheet and 2 - Tableau Public 10 now supports Google Sheet connections that update daily!

Step 2 - The Design

This one took me FOREVER to figure out, mostly because it was such simple data - just a word, a date, and the order it came in. I knew that I wanted it to be different, but I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. I went through iteration after iteration of running total area chart, sound wave charts, bubbles, etc., all to no avail. Eventually I just started thinking about how I could display text data in a meaningful and fun way. After a week or so of thinking about it on and off, it hit me right in the face (as ideas often do - mostly in the shower)! AOL instant messenger, the most classic way to communicate via text for millennials like me! I mean seriously, how many of you remember talking to your girlfriend on AIM and then a PHONE CALL came in and disconnected your dial up connection! Lives ruined, hearts broken.....and all because of a telemarketer!

Now that I knew what I wanted, I began by scouring the internet for AIM treasures and screenshots. I found animated GIFs, screenshots, and even tapped into AIM itself (that’s right, it STILL exists). It didn’t take me long to close that screen, don’t dig up the past people! Anyway, once I had some neat stuff piled up, I worked out my flow.

Step 3 - The Flow

Dash A - Intro and Start

This page was mostly put together to explain how we record Cal’s words and how the dashboard works. Basically its a “click at will” dashboard where users can investigate what buttons “work”. I PURPOSELY made the dashboard a little clunky, 90′s style, and (oh god) used Times New Roman - all in the name of authenticity and nostalgia! I also included a fun animated GIF from the original AOL startup screen (you can hear the modem noises already!).

Dash B - Old School AIM Login Screen

This brought back memories - good old screennames. If you didn’t know, that’s what my twitter handle actually is “Dustiboy21″ is over 15 years old! Not much else to see here, but the sign on button will take you to the main page!

Dash C - AIM Messenger Box

The meat of the dashboard was made to look like an AIM window with me and Callum talking to each other. I took a screenshot of an old AIM window, layered over our pictures, and made a sheet that looked just like the AIM text did! I also added some buttons that looked like the normal AIM window buttons, but take you to different parts of the dashboard.

Dash D - Buddy Profile

Just for fun, I also made one of those classic “AIM” profiles for Cal, complete with inspirational quotes, an away message and smileys!

Dash E - Charts

Of course, no dashboard would be complete without the charts! I knew that I wanted some charts to go along with the word list in the dashboard, but I wanted them to fit the era of the AIM program. So, I did my research and dug up old screenshots of what excel and powerpoint charts looked like back in the day. All of the colors and chart types are an attempt at being as authentic as possible to the era - excluding normal “best practices” that we typically use.

And that’s it! I really had fun making this dashboard and one day, Cal will see it and be proud (or call me a nerd....probably more likely). Enjoy the nostalgia and the charts!

Dash Link

Keep Vizzing!

Dustin