Working with the Infobase team

Who we are and what we do

The Health Infobase team is responsible for developing and publishing health data products on Health Infobase.

The products we publish can be static or interactive, depending on the needs, and they always need to be fully usable and accessible.

We use D3 JavaScript (data-driven documents) to build compelling data visualization to help people explore and understand health data.

Consult the Guidelines for health data and dashboards on Canada.ca for more information on the overall process.

Reusing existing products and patterns

When developing a data product, reusing patterns we've already developed (see Pattern library) is less time-consuming than designing new patterns. It reduces development time, the time for validity and accessibility checks, and it reduces risk of unexpected problems.

Reusing patterns can also create a more unified experience throughout the Infobase and promote trust.

Designing new features and patterns

We have the ability to develop completely new data visualization patterns for Infobase.

It’s usually more time consuming, as there are more unknowns and more risks. However, coming up with new or improved ways to present data can sometimes lead to a better, more useful product.

We are constantly trying to improve the way we present data to help people get what they need from it.

Timelines

Time needed to publish a health product on the Infobase depends on many factors, such as:

• public health priorities
• readiness level of the team publishing the data product
• scope and complexity of the product
• whether the product reuses existing patterns, or requires building new patterns - when building something new, prototype creation and testing may take more time

To help speed things up, you can:

• follow the suggested design process and use the product roadmap
• prepare your data as well as you can
• connect with us early in the process

Contact the Health Infobase team to get things started.