This document outlines an agenda for a workshop on using data to tell stories effectively. The workshop will include introductions, collective critique of data storytelling examples, presentations of case studies, an exercise to remix a data-driven story for different audiences and goals, and a wrap-up. The workshop encourages participants to consider their audience and goals in order to choose the best way to present data and accomplish what they want to achieve with their target audience. A variety of techniques for data storytelling will be presented and participants will work in groups to reimagine a story for a new context. The goal is to help people learn to work with and communicate data through different visual and narrative methods.
2. #DoGoodData
February 7, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Title:
Job Title, Company name
First & Last Name
Data Therapy: Telling Your Story Well
Research Scientist
MIT Center for Civic Media
@rahulbot
Rahul Bhargava
5. #DoGoodData
Data is an Asset…
improve
operations
spread the
message
bring people
together
6. 6
Telling Your Story Well
Asking
questions
Gathering
data
Finding a
story
Telling
your story
Trying it
out
Ask yourself about your audience and goals…
…and see if you accomplish your goals with your target audience
15. #DoGoodData
A Richer Set of Inspirations
History Quilt, Elizabeth Peabody, 1856
Prudential Ribbons Experiment, 2014Food security data on a cucumber, Rahul Bhargava, 2014
Black Cloud, WWF & Ogilvy, 2007
16. #DoGoodData
A Tool Belt of Techniques
Personal Stories Data Sculptures
Maps & Creative Maps
Participatory Games
Charts & Creative Charts
21. Goals
• Raise awareness
• Change to lower-water crops
• Buy lower-water groceries
• Offer lower-water meals
• Create incentives for lower water use
• …
22. Remix the Story
• Make a team of 3 or 4 people
• Pick an audience and a goal that makes sense for them
• Pick a tiny piece of the story that you think will accomplish
the goal
• Pick a technique to tell that story
• Grab markers and sketch out your story visually on the
whiteboard
You have 15 minutes – have fun and be creative!
24. #DoGoodData
February 7, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Title:
Job Title, Company name
First & Last Name
Know your audience
and your goals before
deciding how to tell
your data-driven story
25. 25
A suite of tools and activities for learning to work with data
Recovering computer scientist
Presenting and creating tools activities about data literacy for a variety of audiences for 10 years
Improving operations is the standard approach, analyzing and metrics oriented, for internal audiences
Spreading the message is also common, using data to show impact and effectiveness to external audiences
Fewer folks think of the third, in the “campfire” model of bringing people together around data to accomplish a variety of goals at the same time
Here is a process, Sometimes a circle, triangle, whatever, but here is a line version
The key bit is to figure out how to tell your story well – it’s all about audience and goals
Catherine D’Ignazio and I built DataBasic to make this fun
New grant will help us work with you all to tailor this to NGO/CSO needs
And will support building guides to help you run these fun activities with your colleagues,
Instead of crappy short descriptions online
USAID 50th anniversary celebration,
Created by lemonly
USAID 50th anniversary celebration,
Created by lemonly,
Displayed online and in their HQ as a big banner,
(I’m taking it out of context)
Data-dense, visually complex representations of complex data-driven stories are the inspirations we most often see.
Data-dense, visually complex representations of complex data-driven stories are the inspirations we most often see.
A move diverse set of techniques available
Based on your context, audience, and goals
Based on your context, audience, and goals
Make some simplifying assumptions about your audience
Make some simplifying assumptions about your audience
Make some simplifying assumptions about your audience
Hard to over-emphasize how obvious and forgettable this is
Need to take this approach to tell your story well
Catherine D’Ignazio and I built DataBasic to make this fun
New grant will help us work with you all to tailor this to NGO/CSO needs
In addition to DataBasic, my datatherapy activities are documented online