- The Plastic Ocean Project collects data from water cleanup efforts
- Predictive UX is putting this data into a knowledge graph to uncover patterns
- The knowledge graph will help identify brands, pollution types and hot spots
Predictive UX is a proud sponsor of the Plastic Ocean Project "POP" an organization whose mission is:
To educate through field research, implement progressive outreach initiatives, and incubate solutions to address the global plastic pollution problem, working with and for the next generation to create a more sustainable future.
Predictive UX is exploring how we might use the data collected by POP and other organizations to tell the story of plastic pollution hot spots and how plastic flows from the ocean into your bloodstream. Our goal in exploring the data story is not only to raise awareness about plastic getting into our foods and, ultimately, our bloodstream, but to also potentially uncover new patterns and relationships in the data to help us combat plastic pollution in our oceans.
POP collects data from cleanups where they document their findings based on The Litter Survey Protocol developed by Duke University Environmental Law and and Policy Clinic. Today, data is collected manually and written down on a form. Predictive UX is working with the Plastic Ocean Project to capture this data digitally into a knowledge graph. It is our goal to examine amounts of trash collecting in hot spots, identify brands who contribute the most to plastic ocean pollution, and to look closer at contributing factors that enable greater levels of plastic pollution to enter our waterways.
Predictive UX has always cared about sustainability. We hired a Chief Sustainability Officer in 2019 to help us organize river sweeps and then the pandemic hit in early 2020, putting a damper on those plans. However, we didn't give up! We continued to work on what we could from our home offices and spent time developing a blueprint for small businesses to reduce their carbon footprint so that, collectively, we can make an impact. Now that POP is back in full force working on collecting data again, we are eager to contribute our time and technical know-how to knowledge capture and data insights to help shape our planet's future in a positive direction.
2022 is full of new opportunities to get back to in-person sustainability efforts. It is also providing us with an opportunity to explore working with graph database vendors to showcase our work in this space so that we can provide support to the important work of the Plastic Ocean Project.
