April, 2015 · Ulrich Atz · @statshero

Telling Stories with Data

Introductions

•  Your name •  Where you’ve come from •  Role •  Your aims/expectations for this

session.

•  You’ll have an overview of how people are telling stories

•  You have a sense of the raw work of exploring and understanding a dataset

•  You know some inception points for finding a story

Outcomes

Discussion

What is data for you?

EXAMPLES OF DATA JOURNALSIM

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/may/24/data-journalism-punk

http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/

Data is a source

Two main methods of using data as a source

1.  Story first – data used to enhance, fact check, dig deeper

2.  Data first – story found/presented through data analysis

Thanks to David Ottewell Head of Data Journalism Trinity Mirror (Regionals) for permission in using this slide

Thanks to David Ottewell Head of Data Journalism Trinity Mirror (Regionals) for permission in using this slide

Thanks to David Ottewell Head of Data Journalism Trinity Mirror (Regionals) for permission in using this slide

Using data as a source ≠ must have visualisation

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b1a2f64-2048-11e3-9a9a-00144feab7de.html

Using data as a source ≠ (necessarily) big investigation

http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/02/26/the-eu-could-ban-roaming-charges-completely-this-year/

http://aviation.live.kiln.it/

Exercise: Find a story http://bit.ly/odi-titanic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stöwer_Titanic.jpg

1.  Explore the data (here: follow my speed run)

Exercise

Story inception points

1.  Create a ranking 2.  Compare groups 3.  Use sum/average/min/max functions 4.  Think local 5.  Look for anomalies in the data

1.  Explore the data (here: follow my speed run) 2.  Collect three ideas for finding a story

q  Choose one story you want to tellq  Create a headlineq  (Bonus: Create a chart, e.g. with

datawrapper.de)

Exercise

Thank you!

Our top tip: BBC Radio 4 / PodcastMore or Less

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moreorless

BONUS SLIDES: HOW (NOT) TO

VISUALISE YOUR DATA

Non-traditional use of chart types

Arbitrariness of double axes

Charts that use ALL THE DATA

Selective use of data

http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/05/16/11-mistakes-that-will-drive-data-nerds-crazy/

Finding a meaningless correlation

http://www.tylervigen.com/

Y-axis does not start at zero