Just Story It

Here's the next stop on the data and visual storytelling journey. While the previous article I curated focused on the history of visual storytelling, this research article addresses 'what's next.'

For the authors of the article -- what's next is the presentation and communication of data that has played only a minor role in research up to this point.

Click on the title of the article "Storytelling: The Next Step for Visualization" at the bottom of the blurb to get a free copy of the research paper. 

The research paper itself focuses on journalism as storytelling -- which it is, but it is not the only method or approach. So the article is limiting in that way. 

Still, there are some good insights about how data visualization needs to move more directly into storytelling using story delivery techniques.

Iin the end, the authors Robert Kosara and Jock Mackinlay say: 

"Storytelling promises to open up entirely new avenues of research in visualization. Going from exploration to analysis to presentation is a natural progression, which is mirrored by the research effort focused on these steps over time. As the field becomes more mature and provides many useful techniques for the first two steps, we need to start focusing on presentation. This is even more important as visualization gets used for decision-making, where the succinct presentation of important facts is crucial."

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it

I couldn't agree more. I'm working right now with a client on measures, data, metrics, standards, and figuring out how to tell the story in ways that can influence changes in behavior.

Who said storytelling was only about sharing experiences? It is also about finding data, shaping that into a shareable story, and then delivering the story the data is telling you so people can be influenced.

Here's an article that speaks directly to those issues -- and gives advice for how to bring data to life, and tell its story.

What I like it that it starts with "The Art of the Question". In other words, the data you will use depends on the questions you are asking. Get the questions right and the story begins to unfold.

There are other tips here that are also helpful. For all you big data-heads out there -- or for anyone confronted with a lot of data -- read this article so you can start figuring out the story to share.

And thank you for Giuseppe Mauriello for finding and pointing me to this post!

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it 

If you are into data and storytelling, then this brief overview is for you. The slideshare program quickly explains data visualization through time.

Of course, how data is displayed -- if done well -- can tell its own story.  The next step is to give a presentation as a story, and tell the story of the data as you are doing so. 

Until then, enjoy this quick historical review of visual storytelling.

This review was written by Karen Dietz for her curated content on business storytelling at www.scoop.it/t/just-story-it