• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Charlie Rogers

  • About Charlie Rogers
  • Posts
  • Contact
  • Twitter

The 7 Types of Data Stories

racial-dot-mapHow do you parse large chunks of data looking for sharable insights?

Martha Kang, editorial manager of Tableau Software (a maker of visualization software), writing in Mediashift, says that you should try to display information so the user can explore the data in at least one of these seven ways:

 

 

The Seven Basic Types of Data Stories

  1. Narrate change over time (how has x changed over the last decade?)
  2. Start big and drill down (how much x is there in the world? How much in my zipcode?)
  3. Start small and zoom out (there is this much x in your zipcode. See how much there is in the world)
  4. Highlight contrasts (see how far apart the highs and lows of x are)
  5. Explore the intersection of trends (what does it mean when x grows to be greater than y?)
  6. Dissect the factors (see the how much of  x‘s growth is caused by y and z)
  7. Profile the outliers (see how x is not at all like z)

Here are a couple of great examples:

  • The Racial Dot Map (One dot per person for the entire United States) by Dustin Cable
  • Propublica’s Surgeon Scorecard (complication rates for surgeons performing eight procedures in Medicare)

 

via Mediashift

Filed Under: Digital Journalism

Charlie Rogers Charlie Rogers

Chief content officer, editor-in-chief, managing editor, launch manager, and product strategist on dozens of digital ventures, for companies including NBC, Conde Nast, Time Warner, Martha Stewart and Random House.
Here's my bio...

Get in Touch!

Footer

Twitter: @jrnlsm

  • Just now
  • http://twitter.com/jrnlsm

Popular Sections

  • SEO For Editors
  • Digital Journalism
  • Digital Management
  • Audience Development

Recent Posts

  • Free or Cheap Tools for Learning Web Analytics
  • Why Are Your Web Pages So Fat and Slow?
  • Jon Morrow’s 52 Headline Hacks
  • The Immutable Error of Parenthood
  • Calvin Coolidge was super-judgmental

Quick Subscribe

Receive an email every time new content goes live.

Thanks!

Copyright © 2023 Charlie Rogers