A design researcher's insights on using big data to understand complex situations such as the conflict in Syria.

1. Julia Plevin
Eliz Ayaydin

2. GDELT data, while interesting, has structural and misleading
implications for making sense of conflict.
The challenge

3. Insight 1
"While datasets like GDELT provide new
opportunities, they are not opportunities to
relax and let the data do the talking."
- John Beieler, PhD student in Political Science
"We need tools that are themselves
interpretative and on a meta level self aware
enough to encourage and respect a user's
interpretation."
- Leah Meisterlin, Research Director at SPO
GDELT is created from interpretations of events, but its
maps leave no room for interpretations.

4. Insight 2
Q3 2012Q3 2011 Q1 2013
syria.newscientistapps.com
Analysis and graphic by Peter Aldhous; published 13 May 2013.
Source: Kalev Leetaru and Philip Schrodt / GDELT
GDELT is composed of lots and lots qualitative data,
but it is treated like quantitative information.

5. Opportunity
How might we:!
Help people create a narrative from GDELT data?

6. Concept
Key Features:!
Allows people to find new usage for data for new
questions that arise. It's an accessible platform for user
determined data analysis.
!
A set of possible visualizations that the user can choose
from.
!
Includes social media data.
!
Provides questions to aid in analysis.
!
User Value Proposition:!
The user can explore the data through relationships that
the user determines instead of predetermined by the
people putting out the data.
!
!
GDELT Explorer!
A visualization tool that helps a user understand the actors
and events in a conflict as well as the magnitude, context,
and connections of actors and events.

7. Concept Development
Sankey diagrams visualize the magnitude of flow between nodes in a network
Research:!
How can we show the magnitude of events?

8. Concept Development
Cultural analytics:
"Using numbers to describe cultural
artifacts allows us to replace
discrete categories (words) with
continuous descriptions (curves)."
- Lev Manovich
Frequency of tags in Obama's weekly address videos
Research:!
How can we make sense of qualitative data?

9. Concept Development
Network visualization: Syria + corruption Greek debt via informationisbeautiful.com
Research:!
How can we make networks easier to understand?

10. Concept Development
Research:!
How can we use data to tell a full story?

11. Concept Development
Research:!
How can we use data to tell a full story?

12. Concept Development
Research:!
How can we use data to tell a full story?

13. Lessons & Takeaways
!
Are the current tools for understanding GDELT clear?
!
The data needs to be able to communicate to multiple
stakeholders who we believe can fundamentally be helpful
and create value.
!
Should anyone be able to understand and interpret
information from GDELT, or only professional data scientists
and researchers?
!
Can design benefit the articulation of the situations and
stakeholders in Syria?
!
GDELT Explorer!
And this is how:!
1. Telling better stories
2. Understand the important tropes and semiotics in video footage
3. Prototyping and making things
NO
WE THINK YES
YES