Pacific Dataviz Challenge: Telling the Story of the Pacific Through Visualised Open Data
Time: Wednesday 13th May 14:30-15:00
Room: Waterfront
Track: Drupal Development
The Pacific Dataviz Challenge is an initiative designed to raise awareness of social, economic, and environmental issues across Pacific communities through open data and impactful data visualisations. In this presentation, our team will demonstrate how Drupal served as the foundation for a platform that supports organizers, participants, and judges while promoting data literacy throughout the Pacific region.
We will present the development of a fully custom Tailwind CSS Drupal theme focused on clarity, performance, and responsiveness. A major architectural focus was balancing reusable content types with adaptable templates, enabling content editors to build varied layouts for each content section.
The submission system, built using Webform, is another central element. We will outline how we implemented structured data collection for datasets, narrative descriptions, and visual assets, along with careful attention to validation and user experience to ensure smooth submissions for participants of all skill levels.
For the judging process, the team developed a dedicated evaluation application built with Views, Voting API, and complementary modules to streamline scoring, feedback, and review states. Judge-specific dashboards and secure permission handling help maintain fairness, transparency, and efficiency throughout the evaluation cycle.
We will conclude by reflecting on an earlier prototype built using a decoupled Next.js architecture. While the approach offered advantages such as improved rendering and UI flexibility, it also introduced significant complexity in workflows, form handling, and content synchronisation. These lessons informed our decision to return to a more cohesive Drupal-based architecture for the final solution.
We will present the development of a fully custom Tailwind CSS Drupal theme focused on clarity, performance, and responsiveness. A major architectural focus was balancing reusable content types with adaptable templates, enabling content editors to build varied layouts for each content section.
The submission system, built using Webform, is another central element. We will outline how we implemented structured data collection for datasets, narrative descriptions, and visual assets, along with careful attention to validation and user experience to ensure smooth submissions for participants of all skill levels.
For the judging process, the team developed a dedicated evaluation application built with Views, Voting API, and complementary modules to streamline scoring, feedback, and review states. Judge-specific dashboards and secure permission handling help maintain fairness, transparency, and efficiency throughout the evaluation cycle.
We will conclude by reflecting on an earlier prototype built using a decoupled Next.js architecture. While the approach offered advantages such as improved rendering and UI flexibility, it also introduced significant complexity in workflows, form handling, and content synchronisation. These lessons informed our decision to return to a more cohesive Drupal-based architecture for the final solution.
Speakers
Jason Ryan Thompson, Stanislas Ozier
Jason Ryan Thompson is the Senior Web Developer for the Pacific Community's Statistics for Development Division. He has over a decade of experience in Drupal software development and project management in the government and education sectors across three continents. Before joining the Pacific Community, Jason was the lead web developer for Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan. He also previously worked for the United States Congress in Washington DC and managed web projects for the elected members of the US House of Representatives. He holds a Master of Science in Public Sector Innovation & E-Governance from KU Leuven in Belgium and a Bachelor of Arts in International Social Science from the University of Tsukuba in Japan.
Additional speakersStanislas Ozier
Pacific Data Hub Solution Architect
Involved in the frontend development of the new Drupal theme
Pacific Data Hub Solution Architect
Involved in the frontend development of the new Drupal theme