How to Tell a Story with Data. Imagine the stories that numbers in a… | by National Library Singapore | Our Stories: National Library Singapore Blog | Nov, 2022 - Medium

Stories are everyplace astir us. Growing up, we brushwood stories successful books, successful libraries oregon done our parents and grandparents. But did you cognize that you tin archer stories with data? Join Librarian Kevin Seet arsenic helium explores what information visualisation is and however it helps archer stories astir the satellite we unrecorded in.

As anyone who has stared astatine endless rows and columns successful a spreadsheet tin attest, collecting information is 1 thing; making consciousness of it is thing other altogether.

To assistance america recognize and process the information collected, information scientists crook to thing called information visualisation. This is typically a graphic practice of the project’s findings oregon data.

The information (usually successful a ample table, bland, afloat of plain substance and numbers) is translated into a ocular form, allowing america to recognize and construe information much easily. These visualisations assistance america explicate the information to an assemblage who needs to recognize it better. Whether it is for stakeholders, imaginable customers, oregon students, information is illustrated successful a ocular mode to explain, elaborate, oregon elucidate — successful essence, to archer a story.

Data visualisation is not new. Think astir pastry charts and barroom graphs that modern spreadsheet programs tin easy create. However, these days, we are capable to spell mode beyond a elemental pastry chart. Technology has developed caller ways of knowing and presenting data, resulting successful much interactive and engaging means of storytelling.

Augmented and virtual world devices present let america to research information astir physically successful a 3-D space. Take, for instance, this TikTok video, which explains 2 elemental models for the dispersed of COVID-19. The information virtually comes to beingness close successful beforehand of you done augmented world via your device, and you tin physically locomotion astir and interact with it. The effect is an immersive, engaging mode to recognize an different adust and world topic.

Screengrab from an augmented world objection of superspreader events contributing to an R-value of 2 for a virus. Credit: Michael DiBenigno (@the.data.guy), 2020. “Thank you @epidemiologistkat for continuing to pass probe driven insights… I conscionable assistance visualize them and stock a story. #datastory #AR”. TikTok, November 4, 2020, https://tiktok.com/@the.data.guy/video/6891058199525444869

With a small creativity, astir thing — emotions, sentiments oregon adjacent different mundane topics — tin beryllium presented successful beauteous visualisations. In 2015, 2 accusation designers Giorgia Lupi and Stefanie Posavec embarked connected a data drafting project that presented their mundane stories via information successful postcards. The year-long task saw the 2 designers describing their lives — adjacent banal details specified arsenic however often they laughter successful a week — to each different connected postcards that were sent weekly. The postcards are a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns that could beryllium itself a signifier of art. They’ve besides published a publication of the aforesaid title documenting their project.

A week of laughters visualised, and however to make oregon work it. Credit: Lupi, Georgia, & Posavec, Stefanie. 2017. “The Project”. Dear Data. Accessed November 10, 2022. http://www.deardata.com/theproject

Over astatine Hedonometer.org, researchers purpose to characterise an scale of happiness implicit a play of time. This is done utilizing substance mining from Twitter and crowdsourced sentiment analysis. Changes successful happiness is besides measured by looking astatine however often affirmative oregon antagonistic words are used. The regular scale is tagged to important incidents, truthful you tin conjecture the authorities of happiness connected peculiar occasions, and comparison that with different days. Visually, this presents the pulse of the planetary authorities of happiness implicit time.

Hedonometer illustration of mean happiness for Twitter successful 2020. Credit: Computational Story Lab. “The Hedonometer.” Hedonometer. 2022. https://www.hedonometer.org/.

This attack tin adjacent beryllium applied to books oregon movie scripts, giving america an absorbing penetration into the affectional ups-and-downs arsenic readers oregon viewers advancement done a story. A analyzable communicative specified arsenic Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is understandably rather emotionally chaotic, whereas movies and animation for children thin to beryllium little emotionally turbulent.

Hedonometer illustration of happiness successful Les Miserables (left) and Wall-E (right) implicit the magnitude of the respective book/script. Credit: Computational Story Lab. “Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.” Hedonometer. 2022. Computational Story Lab. “Wall E.” Hedonometer. 2022.

Almost thing tin beryllium viewed arsenic data. A small creativity is each it takes to ideate and visualise information successful an absorbing manner, portion exertion makes that visualisation a world done the usage of the latest software. This New Atlas article provides immoderate examples of absorbing applications erstwhile we alteration information (such arsenic aerial traffic, upwind patterns, photographs, movie scenes, adjacent movie clip question patterns) into gorgeous works of art.

“Paths of aerial postulation implicit North America visualized successful colour and form.” Credit: Aaron Koblin. “Flight Patterns” accessed 11 May 2022

I archetypal encountered the quality of information backmost successful 2006. Artist and machine idiosyncratic Jonathan Harris and spouse Sep Kamvar had produced “We Feel Fine”, a website that managed to beautifully and creatively seizure a glimpse of the satellite done the usage of integer data. For instance, tweets were visualised arsenic coloured circles oregon squares based connected the emotions mentioned, forming a swirling rainbow wide of particles which tin beryllium filtered and explored, bring a satellite of textual information to life. The aforesaid particles tin beryllium organised into rows of shared feelings, sorted by the magnitude of each tweet.

Posts organised into the movements called “Madness” and “Mobs”. Credit: Jonathan Harris & Sep Kamvar. “Movements.” We Feel Fine, accessed 17 November 2022

Harris presented this work astatine a TED league successful 2007, aft which it went connected to power immoderate of the projects mentioned here.

Data visualisation has go adjacent much important arsenic information sets go adjacent larger and much complex. Thanks to the proliferation of microchips everywhere, modern societies person the quality to stitchery immense seas of information of conscionable astir everything. Making each this information comprehensible has go a overmuch harder task arsenic a result.

Back successful April 2022, I shared astir large information and its relevance astatine A Librarian’s World, the National Library’s bid of talks hosted by librarians. You tin besides find much absorbing examples of information visualisation astatine the website Information is Beautiful. With the close knowing and a interaction of inspiration, you, too, tin nutrient your ain originative visualisation of data, revealing a communicative hidden successful the ever-growing satellite of data.

Further reading:
Adam Frost, Communicating with Data Visualisation: A Practical Guide. (London: SAGE Publications, 2022). (Call no. 001.4226 FRO)

Chip Heath & Karla Starr, Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers. (Avid Reader Press, 2022). (Call no. 001.4226 HEA). Also disposable successful eBook format.

David McCandless, Beautiful News. (London: William Collins, 2021). (Call no. 031.0222 MAC). Also disposable successful eBook format.

David McCandless. “Information is Beautiful.” Information is beautiful, past reviewed 21 April 2022.

Dick Murray, The Infographic: A History of Data Graphics successful News and Communications. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2020). (Call no. 001.4226 DIC). Also disposable successful eBook format.

Kevin Seet is a Librarian with the National Library, Singapore, wherever helium oversees the Business, Science and Technology collections. His interests prevarication successful the overlaps betwixt science, exertion and society. Besides managing the collections, his responsibilities besides see processing contented and providing notation and probe services.