Sheldon.studio srl
Via dei Portici, 70
39100 - Bozen-Bolzano, IT
PI 03061940213
a project for European Data Journalism Network
Minding the (diversity) gap in street names
An interactive project that maps the remarkable lack of diversity in Italian street names, revealing how few women are honoured in street names across European cities.
the challenge
These unfair streets
You might not make much of it as you pass through Avenue Victor Hugo in Paris, Via Garibaldi in Venice, or Strada Xenofon in Bucharest. Yet once you start paying attention to it, you can't stop wondering: Where are all the women? Why are there so many Saints and soldiers, and so few scientists, where are people of any gender, of colour, culture? Why so many white men? That is why at Sheldon.studio we felt a great responsibility when OBC Transeuropa approached us to work on a large dataset of 145,933 streets across 30 major European cities in 17 different countries. What patterns would the data reveal? How could we make a broad public empathize with the topic and the massive dataset, igniting actions to demand change?
the idea
It's not just a matter of naming
In partnership with the EDJNet, Mapping Diversity aims to engage a broader audience in recognizing the gender gap in Italian street names. Through scrollytelling and simple visualizations that facilitate the reader's understanding, the project reveals how few women are honoured in Italian street names. It's not just a matter of labelling; street names have symbolic power. They're the result of decision-making processes rooted in the legitimisation of the past and in the construction of collective historical memory. It's a matter of honouring the women who shaped our past and including them in the city streets that we use every day.
impact
Spread the word!
If data is the new oil, we should be aware of the new environmental consequences, too. We mean: data may be wrongly collected, may be unprecise, partial, or simply partial, not representing the whole phenomenon. Consequences of wrong data may be serious. For this reason before taking decision, or simply considering data, we should check twice where do they come from, how they were collected, in which way, what/who they represent or exclude. Despite it is a fancy and funny project we tried to give it a social vocation to warn and raise awareness one more time on the hype around data.
LATEST PROJECTS
PROJECT
Data gamification for local water awareness
PROJECT
Gamifying data on teen internet’s dark side
PROJECT
Planetary data storytelling dashboard
PROJECT
Follow us on
Instagram
LinkedIn
Spotify
Medium