Verdens Gang – Locating closed schools in Norway

The image depicts a page from a newspaper with information in Norwegian. At the top of the page, the words “SNIPP, SNAPP, SNUTE” are written, translating to ‘’And they lived happily ever after’’. Beneath this, there is a large, grayscale map of Norway. Scattered across the country on the map are numerous red dots, signifying schools that have been closed. This map is a representation of closed schools in Norway.

The closed schools on the map are located between Vadsø and Kristiansand. Since 1986, 1.391 schools have been closed. The typical closed schools were small schools with less than 100 pupils, located in a village or a hamlet on the outskirts of a municipal center.

Along with the map, accompanying charts and tables appear to the right. These graphics display various statistics, possibly related to the closed schools highlighted on the map. The charts contain data points and regions of Norway, possibly settling on the periods in time, and draw a line for each region with lengths proportional to associated numbers which range from 34 to 316.

On the bottom the number 316 can be found highlighted in red, with 316 dots next to it. These dots refer to 316 schools that had been closed between 1986 and 1992, but the names and locations of these schools were not recorded and hence couldn’t be added to the map.