Interactive Data Visualisations in Smart Communities, with Melanie Thewlis

Hi #SmartCommunity friends, in this episode of the Smart Community podcast I have a fantastic chat with Melanie Thewlis. Melanie is a Full Stack Engineer at Sitemate. At the time of the recording Melanie was Front End Developer at City of Melbourne on the City Data Experience team, specialising in interactive data visualisations in the browser, with 15 years of experience in the space.

In this episode Melanie tells us about the City DNA platform, a giant 3D printed model of Melbourne where different data scenarios can be projected onto the map. We discuss the stormwater gamification project that transformed tense flood conversations into empowering community experiences, including how playing the ‘maintenance crew game’ built trust with concerned residents. 

We talk about mapping Aboriginal Melbourne with traditional owners and designing engagement websites for major projects like the Greenline and Royal Park Master Plan.

We finish our chat discussing the power of embodied data through examples like climate scarves and Georgia Lupi's Long COVID diary, encouraging creative and playful ways to explore data beyond Excel. As always, we hope you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community

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Podcast Production by Perk Digital
This podcast is recorded on the traditional lands of the  Kabi Kabi peoples and edited on the lands of the Gaibal peoples.   I pay my respects to traditional owners of country and their elders past and present. I also extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening today.  Here on the Smart Community Podcast, we talk about data, technology, communities and the future. First Nations peoples have been sharing knowledge, caring for country, and telling stories for tens of thousands of years.  I honour that deep connection of storytelling and community connection as we continue our conversation together here today.
Podcast Production by Perk Digital