Data for Communication and Impact

Senior Data Scientist, Enigma

Fellow, Tow Center

slides: bit.ly/1JI2zA1

Why Data-driven Narratives?

• Data enables the exploration of relationships, trends, and anecodotes you might not otherwise have access to or might be hard to clearly communicate.
• Data is varnished with the veneer of "truth".
• Data-driven narratives have the potential to place the audience in the story.

Why not Data-driven Narratives?

• Data fetishism can distract from the human-elements of a story.
• Data is varnished with the veneer of "truth".
• Data can be misleading or hard to interpret (even for the author).

The Good

• Clearly communicates the central point.
• Makes a creative and compelling argument.
• Responsibly qualifies or complicates its claims.
• Provides avenues for future exploration.

The Bad

Good data narratives are all alike;

every bad data narrative is bad in its own way.

The Ugly

Tufte's 10 rules

1. Show your Data
2. Use Graphics
3. Avoid ChartJunk
4. Utilize Data-ink
5. Use Labels
6. Utilize Micro/Macro
7. Seperate Layers
8. Use Multiples
9. Utilize Color
10. Understand Narrative

Russian Troops in Ukraine - BuzzFeed

Speeding Cops - Sun Sentinel

Drought's Footprint - New York Times

What is a "NewsApp"?

• A large, web-based interactive database that tells a journalistic story using software instead of word and pictures.
• An tool for placing your audience inside a story.
• A utility for for generating new stories.
• A "Good" Dashboard

The "Near and Far" of NewsApps

"what I like to see in a news application [is] a way to see the 'far' view (in other words, the big national picture) and the 'near' view (how the big national phenomenon relates to me personally)"

Dollars for Docs - ProPublica

Syrian Refugees - Al Jazeera America

U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies - Enigma

U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies - Enigma

U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies - Enigma

U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies - Enigma

What do you think? Gun Permits Map

What do you think? Twitter Maps

Creating an Impact Workflow - NewsLynx

Thanks!