2022
Why the Taroko Express train crash?
Country/area: Taiwan
Organisation: CommonWealth Magazine
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 1/9/2021
Credit: Silva Shih, Daniel Kao, Ying-Yu Chen, Sylvia Lee, Andy Yang, Chien-Tong Wang.
Biography: CommonWealth Magazine’s data and graphics team is a small team with reporter, project manager, programmer and designer. We produce data-driven story for the site.
Project description:
CommonWealth’s investigation on the deadest Taiwan train crash shows the serious bureaucratic flaws behind the tragedy. Based on the information we’ve collected, and interviews with the survivors and victims’ families, we use 3D models and videos to rebuild the scene how the train crash happened, which reveals this crash didn’t have to happen.
Impact reached:
The total traffic of these series reports hits a one-day new records. We also have attention from the government, push them to reform the Taiwan Railway Administration.
Techniques/technologies used:
– We use 3D models and videos to rebuild the scene how the train crash happened.
– Graphics and webpage is built with Svelet.js.
– We us Google Doc and Github for cooperation within our team.
What was the hardest part of this project?
– Working flow. We produced this project while all of us were working from home due to the COVID. Thanks to available tools, like GitHub, slack, google drive, and sigma, we can produce this project remotely from the scratch.
– Building 3D models must be on this list. Rendering takes time and needs better equipment as well.
– Time pressure. We have to finish this project once the official investigation was released.
What can others learn from this project?
– How to report a disaster in a visual way.
– How to collaborate with your team remotely in the COVID era.
– How to use 3D models in the visual story.
Project links:
web.cw.com.tw/tra-train-crash/index.html
