Community Commons has two powerful new health needs assessment tool features – Indicator Cards and Collections.
Indicator cards are compelling new data visualizations designed with community engagement in mind.
When indicator cards are gathered together with maps and context, they become a collection. Collections have the potential to really engage stakeholders and set the stage for creating change. But why stop there? They can also be used for case-making, advocacy, grant applications, presentations and much more!
Whatever your motivation for creating a collection, we hope you’ll love this tool for all the reasons we do.
Collections are powerful
The ability to really hone in on the areas you want to prioritize and share with others make collections a unique and powerful resource. With smart area tags, the indicator cards can be reset easily for location comparisons. The indicator cards themselves can represent unique areas, such as a single county, a city or ZIP codes, or grouping of cities, counties, and ZIP codes to create regions.
You can even do side-by-side comparisons by copying a card and using two different area tags.
Collections are customizable
You have the ability to change the main title, the section titles, the section descriptions, and even add or remove cards within them to curate the pieces of the Commons that are most relevant to you. You can rearrange cards by dragging and dropping.
Do you like a story you read on the Commons and think its relevant to your work? Add that story card to your collection. Did you create a card in a different collection but want to use it elsewhere? Copy it and add to your new collection.
Collections are shareable
We all know how important collaboration is and that goes for collections too. Invite others to work with you on your collection. When you’re done, publish the collection and share with others both on and off the Commons.
Wonder what others are doing with their collections? Visit the Member Gallery to see what’s possible. We’ll also keep an eye out for innovative collections and share them with you in upcoming months.
Collections are evolving
Check back often for new indicator cards that you can add to your collections. We bring new data into the Commons each month and that means more community insight and new layers to map.
The features of the indicator cards are evolving too! Soon you will be able to add your own images and have more customization options as well as add support links to other data tools.
Remember, your feedback helps set the roadmap for the new Community Commons, so share your ideas at [email protected]
