Description
Let’s improve a Story full of charts in the ways that we have been studying. Begin by downloading the Tableau Packaged Workbook file cac115_story_draft.twbxLinks to an external site.. This file contains a set of charts in worksheets, a Story that organizes the charts, and the data upon which the charts are based. Open the workbook in Tableau Public.
In this activity, you will revise the existing Story based on hypothetical feedback. It is recommended that you make a copy of the original Story in which to make your changes. After all of the changes have been made, you will submit a single URL for this activity, that of the published and revised Story.
Your Story Goals
Let’s imagine that your organization wants to present a Story that will be published online. A storyboard (below) was agreed upon. You created the provided Tableau Story, compiling it from charts that you made plus some charts that were contributed by others. Online viewers will step through it at their own pace, so you added explanatory captions to all the Storypoints. When you finished creating the Story, you asked several coworkers to review it. Based both on their feedback and on some of your own observations, you realize that several improvements must be made to the Story before it is published.
The presentation covers several aspects of electricity generation in the United States. It discusses patterns in electricity demand and generation in different regions and over periods of time at varying scales (e.g., hours of a day, days of a week, days of a month or year). It also explores how generation patterns differ based on the source (e.g., natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar).
Your Storyboard
The presentation was organized based on the following storyboard:
U.S. demand for electricity fluctuates at multiple scales.
Over the course of a year, based on cooling and heating needs
Demand in Texas correlates to the average daily temperature.
Demand patterns differ based on region: Texas vs. Pacific Northwest.
Over the course of a week, with less use on weekends and holidays
Over the course of a day, based on when people are awake/working
Daily peak demand is more dramatic in Texas than in the Pacific Northwest.
Electricity generation also fluctuates by source but in different patterns.
Nuclear generation is very steady. A reactor is either on or off.
Solar generation varies over the course of a day, stopping when the sun goes down.
Solar generation also varies throughout the year, producing less in winter.
Wind generation is inconsistent from day to day.
In some places, wind generation peaks at predictable times of the day.
Hydro generation varies based on snowmelt and can become very low.
Water release can be scheduled to generate more during hours when demand is high.
How do suppliers match fluctuating generation to fluctuating demand?
Suppliers forecast demand each day and generate to match that forecast.
They alter the amount of generation over the course of a day.
They also alter the amount of generation throughout the year.
Wind and solar generation is gradually increasing.
Suppliers have been changing from coal to natural gas for flexible generation.
Coworker Feedback
Your coworkers provided the following feedback on the presentation:
They were unfamiliar with several of the abbreviations that are used as axis labels in the charts. These are multiples of the standard unit of a kilowatt-hourLinks to an external site. (KWh): MWh (megawatt-hours), GWh (gigawatt-hours) and TWh (terawatt-hours).
They wondered where you got the electricity supply/demand data for the charts in the presentation and suggested you provide citations. Much of the data came from the U.S. Energy Information AdministrationLinks to an external site. (EIA), while some came from the Electricity Reliability Council of TexasLinks to an external site. (ERCOT).
They were curious to know the percentage of changes in electricity generation from coal and natural gas over the past decade.
Your Final Review
After scrutinizing the presentation, you noticed the following issues:
In Storypoints where charts are shown for both Texas and the Pacific Northwest, they are not positioned consistently. Sometimes Texas is on top, sometimes not.
The colors that represent different electricity generation sources are not used consistently from slide to slide.
The title slide would generate more interest if it included a few charts from the presentation.
A number of Storypoints are slightly out of order relative to the storyboard.
Making the Updates
Use the feedback from your coworkers and your final review to revise your Story. Your changes should address the comments given above. Please note that many of the comments will require changes to more than one page of the Story.
