This document discusses visualization techniques for finding and communicating stories from data. It covers the difference between finding and sharing stories, making numbers more visual through techniques like standard deviation, sorting, indices and color coding. Specific examples are provided on visualizing government health spending data across countries over time using line charts, indices and filtering. The overall message is that visualization can be used at different stages of analysis from initial exploration to final presentation, and asking questions of the data is important to guide effective use of visualization.

1. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
Lesson
5
of
6
Visualiza-on
–
for
finding
and
communica-ng
the
story
Ray
Poynter
September
2016

2. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Series
Schedule
• An
Introduc5on
and
Overview
–
Feb
23
• Working
with
Qualita5ve
Informa5on
–
Apr
5
• Working
with
Quan5ta5ve
Informa5on
–
May
26
• Working
with
mul5ple
streams
&
big
data
–
July
5
• Visualiza-on
–
Sep
13
• Presen5ng
the
story
–
Nov
8

3. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Agenda
• Brief
recap
• The
difference
between
finding
and
sharing
• Making
numbers
more
visual
• Rela5onships
in
the
data
• Visualiza5on
for
communica5on

4. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
The
Frameworks
Approach
1. Define
and
frame
the
problem
– A
problem
fully
defined
is
a
problem
half
solved
2. Establish
what
is
already
known
– Find
out
what
is
believed
and
what
the
expecta5ons
are
3. Organise
the
data
to
be
analysed
– Systema5c
checking
and
structural
procedures
4. Apply
systema5c
analysis
processes
5. Extract
and
create
the
story

5. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Finding
Versus
Telling
• Most
of
the
steps
in
finding
the
message
in
the
data
are
NOT
part
of
the
communica5on
• Some5mes,
none
of
the
visualiza5on
you
use
to
find
the
story
will
be
part
of
the
telling
of
the
story
• Finding:
– Show
me
the
contenders
for
the
main
story
and
let
me
choose
one
– Alterna5ve
perspec5ves,
alterna5ve
stories
• Communica5ng
– Here
is
the
one
story
I
want
to
show

6. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Different
Uses
For
Visualiza-on
• Finding
the
story
in
the
data
• Telling
the
story
• Monitoring,
for
example
dashboards
• Workshop
discovery
of
findings
• Teaching
–
the
geometry
of
the
circle
• Allowing
self-­‐discovery
and
story
crea5on
• Instruc5ons
–
how
to
build
that
IKEA
furniture

7. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Radar
Charts
for
Finding
0
20
40
Training
Recruitment
Entertaining
Research
Partnerships
Innova5on
Marke5ng
NPD
Can
be
useful
to
find
the
story
Only
use
with
‘trained’
audience

8. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Data
Reduc-on

9. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Op-mising
the
Detail
Chuck
Close

10. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Making
Numbers
More
Visual
• 2
or
3
SD
–
significant
digits
• Sor5ng
• Indices
(Indexes)
• Colour
Coding

11. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Per
Capita
Govt.
Spend
on
Health
-­‐
$
183
Countries,
1995
to
2010,
source
Gapminder

12. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
3SD
–
Units
of
$10
Divide
by
10,
display
no
decimals
(but
don’t
delete
them)

13. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Sor-ng
–
Filters
in
Excel
Adding
an
ID
field
let’s
you
get
back
to
the
star5ng
posi5on
easily

14. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Looking
at
the
Shape
of
the
Data

15. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Index,
1995
=
100

16. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Line
Chart
for
Outliers
Congo,
Dem
Rep
Niue
Georgia
Equatorial
Guinea
Sudan
$
by
Govt
on
Health
Indexed
100=1995

17. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
What
is
the
Ques-on?
• To
use
analysis
to
find
answers,
you
need
ques5ons
• To
use
visualiza5on
to
find
answers,
you
need
ques5ons
• For
example:
Does
expenditure
on
health
vary
by
wealth
or
poli5cs?

18. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Gapminder
–
Govt.
Health
Spend
v
Income
Saudi
Arabia

19. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Total
Health
Spending

20. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Spending
and
Child
Mortality
South
Africa
Bangladesh

21. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Brand
A`ribute
Data

22. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Condi-onal
Formaang

23. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
2SD

24. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Diagonalise

25. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Tidy
Those
%
Signs

26. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
1
SD

27. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
What
is
the
Ques-on?
• To
use
analysis
to
find
answers,
you
need
ques5ons
• To
use
visualiza5on
to
find
answers,
you
need
ques5ons
• For
example:
How
does
income
relate
to
life
expectancy?

39. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Gapminder
and
Narra-ve
Flow
Hans
Rosling
finds
the
story
using
data
– Rich
countries
=
long
life
– Very
poor
countries
=
short
life
– But
• In
most
countries
(the
middle
group)
it
depends
on
how
the
money
is
spent
Then
the
charts
tell
the
story
– The
charts
are
not
the
story,
they
tell
the
story

41. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Different
Perspec-ves
ASK:
The
alterna5ve
explana5ons
for
this
data
are?

42. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Findings
Need
a
Comparator
RFID

43. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016

44. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016

45. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016

46. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Bad
news
for
men
in
Eastern
Europe
Eurostat
-­‐
hhp://goo.gl/r2q526
Amenable
Deaths
Per
100,000
of
popula5on
-­‐
2012

47. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Use
Numbers
for
Illumina-on
Not
Support

48. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Visualiza-on
and
the
Power
Shic
hhp://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/03/the-­‐
triumph-­‐of-­‐coal-­‐marke5ng.html

49. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
The
Numbers
have
less
impact
Source:
World
Health
Organisa5on

50. Infographics?

51. Allows
the
reader
to
find
stories
But,
does
not
tell
a
single
story
If
used
in
a
presenta5on,
would
need:
1. Time
2. Planning

52. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Google
Music
Timeline

53. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Audiences
can
be
Trained
–
but
not
quickly
Feynman
Diagram
The
interac5on
of
sub-­‐
atomic
par5cles
can
be
complex
and
difficult
to
understand
intui5vely.
Feynman
diagrams
give
a
simple
visualiza5on
of
what
would
otherwise
be
a
rather
arcane
and
abstract
formula.

54. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
The
Big
Picture
• Visualiza5on
for
finding
the
answer
is
usually
different
from
telling
the
story
• The
key
is
data
reduc5on,
the
Michelangelo
way
–
remove
the
stone
that
is
not
David
• In
a
visualiza5on
numbers
should
be
largely
irrelevant
to
the
communica5on
• A
visualiza5on
should
match
or
stretch
the
audience,
but
not
be
out
of
their
quick
grasp

55. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Thank
You!
Follow
me
on
Twi`er
@RayPoynter
Or
sign-­‐up
to
receive
our
weekly
newsle`er
at
h`p://NewMR.org

56. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Schedule
• An
Introduc5on
and
Overview
–
Feb
23
• Working
with
Qualita5ve
Informa5on
–
Apr
5
• Working
with
Quan5ta5ve
Informa5on
–
May
26
• Working
with
mul5ple
streams
&
big
data
–
July
5
• U5lizing
visualiza5on
–
Sep
13
• Presen-ng
the
story
–
Nov
8

57. Finding
and
Communica-ng
the
Story
–
Lesson
5
of
6
–
Visualiza-on
Ray
Poynter,
2016
Q
&
A
Ray
Poynter
The
Future
Place