You're hearing about data-driven storytelling everywhere. But how do you do it? How do you tell stories with data in creative ways to achieve some goals with the audiences you are speaking to? This session will introduce hands-on approaches to moving from data, to story, to a presentation of that story that convinces people. This is hard work, but we'll make it fun with a variety of hands-on approaches. Bring your background, your brain, your wisdom, and your creativity; together we'll improve our ability to tell compelling stories with data to drive change on the issues you care about.

1. Hands-On Approaches to
Data Storytelling
Rahul Bhargava
rahulb@mit.edu
@rahulbot
2017.07.28

2. Agenda
• [30] Intro & Collective Critique
• [30] Going from Data to Story
• [25] Stories you can Tell
• [10] Break
• [25] Finding and Sketching Stories
• [25] Techniques you can Use

3. Intro & Collective Critique

4. The Problem
Organizations working for the social good don't feel
empowered to tell stories with their data.

6. Barriers
confidence technology process

7. Using Data
Improving Operations
Use data inside your organization to assess operational efficiency and
measure impact.
Spreading Your Message
Use data in your marketing and outreach materials to communicate the
impact of your work.
Bringing People Together
Use data to gather people from different sectors together and
strengthen partnerships.

8. How are you using data?
Chat with someone you don’t know for 5
minutes.
I mean it, just 5 minutes.
No, seriously. I will stop you with loud
clapping.

9. The Usual Inspirations
Tableau Software
Visual Explanations, Edward Tufte
Gun Deaths, Periscopic

10. A Richer Set of Inspirations
History Quilt, Elizabeth Peabody, 1856
Prudential Ribbons Experiment, 2014
Food security data on a cucumber, Rahul Bhargava, 2014
Black Cloud, WWF & Ogilvy, 2007

11. Opportunity
● Meet people where they are
● Make working with data fun
● Respect the "secondary" goals

12. Critique
take 10 mins to discuss in trios
1. What datasets are used?
2. How is data visually depicted?
3. What is the story?
4. Is it told well?
The Global State of Agriculture by Lemon.ly for USAID, 2011

13. Abelson’s MAGIC Criteria
• Magnitude - size of the claim
• Articulation - how precise is your claim
• Generality - is it valid in multiple contexts
• Interestingness - can this change beliefs in a way that
matters?
• Credibility - do you believe it?
Robert Abelson. 1995. Making Claims with Statistics. In Statistics as
Principled Argument. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1–16.
(PDF)

14. From Data to Story

15. A Process
Asking
questions
brainstorming,
hypothesis forming,
audience and goals
Gathering
data
Scraping, collecting,
cleaning
Finding a
story
Cleaning and analyzing
Telling
your story
Picking a technique
Trying it
out
Assessment

16. Asking Good Questions
wtfcsv.databasic.io
• 1 question to ask
• list of other datasets you'd need
• how you'd try to get those datasets

17. Stories You Can Tell

18. Story Archetypes
• Changes over Time
• Interesting Factoids
• Surprising Connections
•Personal Experiences
•Revealing Comparisons

19. Data: Trees in Somerville

20. Changes
over Time

21. Interesting
Factoids
Just one hazelnut
tree in the whole
town!
wikipedia.org

22. Surprising Connections

23. Personal
Experiences
You live on that
street? All 9 spruce
trees in town are on
that street.

24. Revealing Comparisons

25. Break!

26. Finding and Telling Stories

27. Sketching Stories
wordcounter.databasic.io
• Pick a sample or two
• Find a quick story
• Sketch how you'd tell that story

28. Techniques You Can Use

29. A Tool Belt of Techniques
• Personal Stories
• Traditional Charts
• Creative Charts
• Data Sculptures
•Traditional Maps
•Creative Maps
•Be The Data

30. Personal
Stories

31. Traditional
Charts

32. Choose the Right Chart
Andrew Abela

33. Creative
Charts

34. Data
Sculptures

35. Traditional
Maps

36. NPR Visuals Team

37. Creative
Maps
Julien Bousac

38. Be the Data Prudential Ribbon Experiment

39. Wrap-Up

40. Barriers
confidence technology process

41. The Problem
Organizations working for the social good don't feel
empowered to tell stories with their data.

42. Resources
datatherapy.org
databasic.io
bit.ly/datacultureproject

43. Hands-On Approaches to
Data Storytelling
Rahul Bhargava
rahulb@mit.edu
@rahulbot
2017.07.28