Data Storytelling – Using Visualization to Share the Human Impact of Numbers

'The universe is made of stories, not atoms.'—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)

Storytelling is a cornerstone of the human experience. The universe may be full of atoms, but it's through stories that we truly construct our world. From Greek mythology to the Bible to television series like Cosmos, stories have been shaping our experience on Earth for as long as we've lived on it.

A key purpose of storytelling is not just understanding the world but changing it. After all, why would we study the world if we didn't want to know how we can—and should—influence it?

 

Though many elements of stories have remained the same throughout history, we have developed better tools and mediums for telling them, such as printed books, movies, and comics. This has changed storytelling styles—and perhaps most importantly, the impact of those stories—over the millennia.

But can stories be told with data, as well as with images and words? That's what this paper's about.

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