{"id":5672,"date":"2018-07-27T11:24:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T16:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2018-07-27T11:24:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T16:24:55","slug":"exploring-spacewalk-patterns-work-done-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/2018\/07\/27\/exploring-spacewalk-patterns-work-done-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring spacewalk patterns: work done so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you might recall from my previous post<\/a>, I have been working on a prototype tool to visualize spacewalk patterns that occur in short term Mars habitat simulations. <\/p>\n

My work so far <\/strong><\/p>\n

I used R packages shiny<\/a>, visnetwork<\/a>, and plotly<\/a> to create an interactive web application for data exploration. Here is how it looks now: <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 The main drop down menu selects a crew to display. A network graph shows who worked with whom on extravehicular activities (EVAs). Each node is a crew member, and the size of a tie represents how many times these people worked together on an EVA. A bar chart in the bottom right corner shows the total number of EVAs that a crew member participated in.<\/p>\n

A user can also select a single EVA to see which crew members worked together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nFuture steps<\/strong><\/p>\n

This simple app functions well, but I want to tweak its appearance: put role abbreviations to the bottom left corner, make sure that the interface is displayed properly both on computers\u2019 and phones\u2019 screens, have a unified theme for different elements of the app. Also, I want to connect the network plot with the bar chart: when a user clicks on a node, a bar that corresponds to that node also gets selected.<\/p>\n

I want to add more socio-demographic data, such as level of education, previous participation in such simulations, and experience in space industry. I want to enable user to visualize interaction networks by other demographics, not just by gender and role in a crew.<\/p>\n

I also plan to add regression models that test whether women are less likely to be central figures than men, controlling for their role in a crew and other demographics.<\/p>\n

Things I have learned<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has been a short journey in the Studio, but a fulfilling one. Summer funding allowed me to take a breath, work on my project, and think about my professional and academic future.<\/p>\n

I have learned that I like building things and enjoy solving problems. I have used R Shiny for the very first time, and its familiar syntax was painless introduction to the world of interactive visuals.<\/p>\n

I come from an interdisciplinary background<\/a> (journalism-nationalism studies-sociology). As a journalist, I tell stories; and as a researcher, I want to do the same. A well done web application or a well done web page is a more efficient way to communicate one\u2019s scholarship than an academic article. Yes, in academia it is still seen as a supplement rather than a substitute to a peer reviewed publication. And it\u2019s a pity \u2013 it takes a lot of time, skills, and effort to create even the simplest visuals. On the other hand, it still is time well spent: by creating a visual story, one gets to know their data very intimately. And the world does not end with academia \u2013 it is helpful to leave the ivory tower and engage with the audiences outside of it. Who knows, maybe it will land me a job in this world of scarce tenure track positions.<\/p>\n

Inga Popovaite, sociology PhD student<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you might recall from my previous post, I have been working on a prototype tool to visualize spacewalk patterns that occur in short term Mars habitat simulations.  My work so far I used R packages shiny, visnetwork, and plotly to create an interactive web application for data exploration. Here is how it looks now: Continue reading “Exploring spacewalk patterns: work done so far”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":5479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,32],"tags":[46,47,44,40,45],"syndication":[30,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5672"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5689,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions\/5689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5672"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/studio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=5672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}