A Brief Introduction to Telling Stories with Data | 20 November

John Naisbitt said: “We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge”. This quote is getting increasingly relevant nowadays when we are literally surrounded by data in our everyday lives. Interpreting and communicating data insights is becoming quite critical in all kind of industries. However, finding the story behind the data and communicating it effectively, is significantly harder than just crunching numbers and plotting data points.

 

This seminar is a brief introduction to how to tell stories with data. Storytelling, in general, is the act of telling a story in an entertaining, impressive or dramatic way. How can we tell a story based on data? We will work with one or two examples to understand the importance of decluttering graphs and adding simple design elements to make our data visualisations speak by themselves. Of course, the role of the communicator is critical, thus, we will also discuss the role of people in light of data and visual representations. No expertise in data visualisation is needed. We will show some examples that can be immediately put into your day-to-day practice.

Short bio

Dr Roberto Martinez-Maldonado is a full-time researcher at the Connected Intelligence Centre (CIC) and data visualisation lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). He has a background in Computing Engineering. His areas of research include Human-Computer Interaction (HCI, CSCW), Learning Analytics, Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED, EDM) and Collaborative Learning (CSCL). In the past years, his research has focused on applying data mining and visualisation techniques to help understand how people learn and collaborate in physical environments, empowering people with emerging technologies such as interactive surfaces, combining available sensors for capturing traces of collaboration and helping teachers to orchestrate their classroom through the use of interactive devices and learning analytics innovations.

 

Feature image credit: Annie Spratt

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Your video, audio and the meeting chat transcript may be recorded or photographed. Please advise the facilitator if you do not wish to be recorded or photographed.

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