This piece of data journalism is a game that aims to understand how it feels to be an Uber driver and try to make a living in the gig economy. I like the fact that it is an interactive game; it makes it very appealing and also gives the ‘reader’ the opportunity to connect with the subject much more by putting them in the subject’s shoes. The game is based on actual experiences of Uber drivers that were interviewed. The game doesn’t provide you with that many choices, so at time it was just clicking through the story but it made me realise how much taxi drivers work, how stressful it is to always need to go to an area where you make (more) money and how little they actually earn per ride. Transforming data into this feeling of empathy for Uber drivers is a very strong instance of data journalism.
The game is accompanied by an article where you see some of the Uber drivers that were interviewed. For those who are interested: https://www.ft.com/content/c9a8b592-a81d-11e7-ab55-27219df83c97