Dashboard week is one of the most signature sessions in The Data School training. In this session, the cohort will be given one or several specific datasets and create a corresponding dashboard. The aiming of dashboard week is to develop excellent time management and data visualisation skills.
Introduction
Today is the first day of dashboard week and the topic is API. We were asked to use JikanAPI, which is an unofficial PHP & REST API for the “most active online anime + manga community and database” — MyAnimeList.net. It provides a broad range of data regarding anime.
Data Preparation
The dataset is relatively clean so the mean challenge of preparation is parsing. The dataset I choose was from getAnimeById, which provides comprehensive information about anime. The total dataset contains 944 pages. However, the first page data do not contain the URL of the next page so the first challenge is to download the completed dataset. What I did is writing some Python code to generate the URL of the whole dataset then download them. The second challenge is the index of JSON objects will be reset on each page. In this case, I encoded a unique id for each JSON object to group the data properly. Finally, I pick up the attributes I need.
Dashboard
Below is the screenshot of my dashboard:
I call it ‘ The Story of Story’, as every anime tells a story but this dashboard tells the story about them. The dashboard displayed comprehensive information such as anime published by year, by month, episode, rate, the best anime yearly and its corresponding image. The big line chart acts as a filter and interacts with other charts. The graphic design is to pay tribute to a famous anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion. The dashboard was to be designed as a dashboard of bio-machine mecha.
