Taiwan data stories is a collaboration between Daisy and Julia, the main goal being using data-driven insights and multimedia graphics to tell stories about Taiwan by using the web as a medium. As data visual practitioners we hope to find more creative approaches to engage the global audience with Taiwan culture that is often overlooked or lost in translation in a more western-dominated media landscape.
We wanted to see how Taiwan’s most iconic street snacks shifted in popularity over the past 10 years (were some always popular? Did some have a huge rise in popularity?), so we dove into Google Trends data. Since Taiwan’s street foods run the complete gamut of flavor, we separated the data to look at the top five sweet snacks and the top five savory snacks.
Mangoes are one of the most popular fruits in Taiwan, though they’re not actually native to the island. Dutch settlers introduced the first mango tree in the 17th century. Ever since, innovative Taiwanese people have created various hybrids. There are now more than 30 types of mangoes in Taiwan. Here we highlight 23, and compare their sweetness and sizes!
Taiwan is 1/10 the size of Japan yet has nearly 10X more “three-thousanders”—mountains 3,000-4,000 meters tall. In fact, there are more than 200 peaks above 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) throughout Taiwan.
Here, we take a closer look at the distribution of these high mountains and where you can find the “100 Peaks of Taiwan (Baiyue 台灣百岳),” a curated list of Taiwan’s top hiking spots! Plus, we show where other three-thousander peaks around the world stand.
Since its first win in 1960, Taiwan has won a total of 36 medals at the Olympic Games. Our second piece goes over all the medals and visualizes them grouped by event / year, by sport, and by gender.
Our first piece is a make-your-own-drink bubble tea adventure where we take the opportunity to show off the drink varieties found in Taiwanese drink stores, and also introduce the various toppings while pointing out some local ingredients and tie them to culture, history and local customs.
Julia Janicki (葉涵) is from Taiwan and the US, and currently lives in Paris. She grew up in Taipei and moved to the US while in highschool and did her studies there. She also lived in Japan for 5 years, in both Tokyo and Okinawa. She is a freelance data journalist, data visualization designer/developer and cartographer with a focus on environmental issues, biodiversity conservation, democracy and human rights. Some of her clients / past clients include Climate Policy Initiative, Reuters Graphics, China Dialogue, Global Fishing Watch, Environmental Investigation and various UN organizations. She was trained as a conservation biologist and remote sensing specialist, receiving two M.S. degrees from UW-Madison in Entomology and Environmental Observation and Informatics.
Daisy Chung (鍾彥儒) is an award-winning freelance science visual communicator/illustrator originally from Taiwan and New Zealand. She currently works at her home studio in Sunnyvale, CA, where she creates data and infographic designs to communicate complex science, with a focus on environmental and biological topics, and more recently on exploring creative ways to share cultural stories of Taiwan across the globe. Previously, she was the Data Visual Designer at Surgo Ventures creating data-driven visual stories addressing global health and social issues. She is a former Creative Director at wikiHow and Graphics Editor at National Geographic Magazine, where she worked with a collaborative team to engage the public through powerful visual storytelling. Daisy holds a Graduate Certificate in Science Illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay (2015), and a BA in Biological Sciences and Visual Arts at Rice University, Houston TX. Daisy aims to make science more accessible by creating engaging visuals and works directly with experts to communicate their research. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Scientific American, National Geographic, Cell Press, The Journal of Neuroscience, and various science and educational platforms.
Joyce Chou (周維思) is a writer and editor based in Houston, Texas. She spent her childhood in small-town New Hampshire before eventually moving to the Houston suburbs for high school and college. After earning a bachelor’s in Sociology and minoring in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities at Rice University, Joyce spent a year teaching English in Taichung, Taiwan, on a Fulbright scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. She was so enamored with Taiwan, where her parents emigrated from, that she also spent a year and a half in Taipei. Besides working on content for Taiwan Data Stories, Joyce enjoys writing about growth marketing, business, and culture.
We would be happy to collaborate! If you are interested in doing research, art, writing or stuff related to data, feel free to reach out and maybe we can make something cool together.