Part 1. Putting Data Driven Research In Perspective
Part 1. Putting Data Driven Research In Perspective
1.5 What is Data Storytelling?
What is Data Storytelling?
Data Storytelling is the process of creating visual narratives using quantitative and qualitative information. Brent Dykes defines data storytelling as “a structured approach for communicating data insights, and it involves a combination of three key elements: data, visuals, and narrative.” The presentation of information using graphs, brief text descriptions, charts, images, video, and multiple colors engages audiences beyond the standard conventions of words, numbers, and sentences.
In the field of journalism, practitioners frequently use the term “data-driven journalism,” which refers to analyzing and filtering large datasets for the purpose of creating news stories. Others use the term “digital storytelling.” However, we prefer data storytelling for our purposes because it serves as an umbrella term to describe general, interrelated approaches to using data to create narratives.
In this chapter, we will explain how data storytelling is an essential skillset that relates to all majors and disciplines and discuss how the production of interactive visuals informed by data creates opportunities to communicate trends and discoveries in captivating ways.
Keywords: Data Visualization, Data Storytelling, Tableau Public,
Teaching Data Storytelling with Beyonce
In the twenty-first century, large numbers of professors are calling for teachers and students to rethink the traditional essay and expand the types of compositions we can produce in writing classes in the digital age. In “Dominant Genre Emeritus,” Adam Banks surmises “any approach to writing instruction that we design or advocate for in this moment must deal in depth with both the challenges and possibilities posed by our relationships with technologies.” The rise in digital technologies has shifted how we perform research and teach students how to write. The amount of data available at our fingertips changes the types of compositions we can create related to a variety of subjects.
In a 2019 senior seminar class, #TheBeyonceExperience, the renowned singer served as a crucial focal point to draw parallels between Black literary art and Digital Humanities. My main reason for teaching the course on Beyonce is because she was a tremendously compelling cultural figure, and her career and popularity gave way to an enormous body of enriching numerical and visual data on the Houston-born crooner. As it turned out, Beyonce was the subject of remarkable data visualization in my class.
One student, Lucien Li, created a Tableau Public visualization based on the 53 Grammys and BET awards that Beyonce had won since 2003 as a solo artist. The student’s chart highlighted the fact that for the Grammys, Beyonce’s awards were mostly located in the “urban” category. The data story dramatized the contrast between Grammys and BET awards in ways that a conventional essay could not.
Her data story responded to