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Old German Newspaper

Welcome

This webpage designed to host information on the Washington Digital Newspaper (WDN) program of the Washington State Library. Our project aims to assist the library in expanding its collection by mapping data results through an interactive data visualization solution. We invite you to explore our platform and discover the rich historical significance of American newspapers.

Overview

The Washington Digital Newspaper (WDN) program of the Washington State Library has led to the creation of an online repository with approximately 600,000 pages of historically significant newspapers. It serves as a valuable resource to explore American history and can be utilized for numerous projects and research opportunities. This project aims to assist the library in growing a diverse newspaper collection by mapping data results. Our data visualization solution offers a comprehensive platform and an interactive way to analyze the current data, identify gaps and patterns while increasing the data's accessibility worldwide via Tableau public.

Methodology

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Shapes and Shades

The entire process can be broken down into three broad areas : Requirement Gathering, Implementation & End Product

Requirement gathering

  • Researched the problem space provided to us by Washington State Library

  • The process involved thorough collaboration with our sponsor

  • Conducted immense readings on the problem space and potential solutions

design & implementation

  • Data Extraction: Used a Python script to extract data from digitized newspapers, obtaining additional details like titles, publication dates, counties, and issue counts.

  • Data Transformation: Excel was employed to store, organize, and transform the data into a suitable format for our project.

  • Data Loading: After obtaining a clean dataset, it was loaded it into Tableau to create interactive visualizations, helping the sponsor analyze and address data gaps effectively.

Final deliverable

  • Developed an interactive data visualization that addressed the sponsor's inquiries and requirements.

  • Assisted in setting up a Tableau Public account for WSL to host and showcase the data visualization.

Key Benefits

The Ultimate Platform

One single platform that helps access all data

Bridging Gaps in Data

Helps identify any missing newspaper issues

Widen Reach

An open-source platform that helps users across the world access all information

Interactive Insights

Users can add filters to view data according to their needs

Demo

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Meet The Team

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Aayushi Gandhi

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MS in Information Management at the University of Washington

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Manthan Mehta

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MS in Information Management at the University of Washington

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Harshi Thaker

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MS in Information Management at the University of Washington

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