Reply To: Week 1 Topic discussion 2

[Ching To Chung]

Among the technologies, I think I like Data-visualization tools for decision support the most. Data dashboard is becoming more and more widely used in many fields today, including public health surveillance. Real-time data is visualized to provide an intuitive and clear view of the current situation to keep the public informed. I remembered that John Hopkins University made a very popular dashboard to provide information on COVID. The dashboard collects data from various sources, such as national and local health agencies and other reliable sources to provide information on the amount of confirmed cases, deaths, and other relevant metrics. Once the data is collected, it is cleaned to remove duplicates and missing data, and data is merged from different sources into a single source. The processed data is then visualized on the dashboard using interactive maps, charts, and graphs. This allows the public to access a global view of the pandemic through using the dashboard. Users can also access historical data and track trends over time. I think it is important as use cases like this are incredibly beneficial as a dissemination tool for real-time disease surveillance. I have a bit of experience of making dashboards myself too, and it is very convenient and low-cost to make a dashboard nowadays with tools like powerBI and Tableau. Therefore, I think this tool has huge potential and a lot of use cases in the field of public health.