Nicolette Wallis from mySidewalk explains the 7 steps to data storytelling

1. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling

2. Data doesn’t speak for itself. It needs a storyteller.
- Nancy Duarte

3. Goals
● Understand how data storytelling helps cities improve
● Learn the steps to a basic workflow for finding, communicating, and
using an insight effectively in city operations and decision making
● Learn how to identify opportunities for applying a data storytelling
workflow

4. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
This course will teach you how
to use data to create change.
1. Frame the problem.
Often, in the form of a
question.
1. Choose good data.
Prioritize indicators by
considering relevance,
actionability, and availability.
➔ age
➔ income
➔ race/ethnicity
➔ language
3. Visualize the answers.
The question you’re trying to
answer determines the
visualization to use.
Should we close an
underutilized
library?
4. Record insights.
Make observations of important
findings in the visualized data.
4. Tell a human story.
Humans understand data best as
a story.
4. Share with stakeholders.
Make the results consumable by
multiple audiences, no matter their
level of data savvy.
4. Take data-driven action.
Improve policies, programs,
perceptions, and people’s lives.
Central library serves a large
Spanish-speaking population.
While data show the library is currently
underutilized, it is serving a critical function
for an important population.

5. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 1: Frame the Problem
● Usually framed in the form of a question
● Make your question:
○ Explicit
○ Actionable
○ Relatively narrow in scope
The problem:
One of our
library
branches is
underutilized
Framed as a
Question:
Should we
close the
underutilized
library?

6. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 2: Choose Good data
● Determine what indicators will answer your
question before gathering data
● Prioritize indicators by considering
○ Relevance to the question
○ Actionability
○ Availability of data
● Once selected, acquire and prep data to analyze
Information
we need?
Neighborhood
demographics that
indicate need for a
library
Indicator:
Households that
speak languages
other than english
at home

7. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 3: Visualize the Answers
● The question you’re trying to answer determines
the visualization to use
● Different visualization types tell different stories:
○ Bar Chart or Pie Chart → Composition
○ Map → Differences over space
○ Time Series → Differences over Time
Indicator:
Households that
speak languages
other than english
at home

9. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 4: Record Insights
● Write down your observations and findings in the
visualized data
● Combine observations from the data with your own
contextual or qualitative knowledge, such as:
○ Relevant events
○ Local cultural or political context
○ Subject matter expertise
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community

10. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 5: Tell a Human Story
● Humans tend to better understand and remember
a data-driven argument when framed with narrative
● What makes a narrative?
○ Words Matter
○ Visualization Guides our Eye
○ Imagery sets the tone
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community
7 Steps to Data Storytelling Should we close an
underutilized
library?
Central library serves a large
Spanish-speaking population.
While data show the library is currently
underutilized, it is serving a critical function
for an important population.

11. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 5: Tell a Human Story
● Designing your narrative
○ Start with audience
○ Define the message
○ Highlight the best
○ Prune the rest
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community
7 Steps to Data Storytelling Should we close an
underutilized
library?
Central library serves a large
Spanish-speaking population.
While data show the library is currently
underutilized, it is serving a critical function
for an important population.

12. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 5: Tell a Human Story
● Good Data Stories:
○ Get to the point
○ Speak your decision-makers language
○ Speak to place
○ Use imagery and anecdotes to connect the
data to real people
○ Often point to a recommended choice
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community
7 Steps to Data Storytelling Should we close an
underutilized
library?
Central library serves a large
Spanish-speaking population.
While data show the library is currently
underutilized, it is serving a critical function
for an important population.

13. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 6: Share with stakeholders
● Make the results consumable by multiple
audiences, no matter their level of data savvy
● Depending on your audience and goals, sharing
may look like:
○ Sending directly with a decision maker
○ Presenting at a community meeting
○ Posting to a social media platform
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community
7 Steps to Data Storytelling Sharing
method:
Directly with
committee
members in a
small meeting

14. 7 Steps to Data Storytelling
Step 7: Take Data-Driven Action
● What does success look like? Your decision
makers incorporate your data story to improve
policies, programs, perceptions, and people’s lives
● Good data storytelling supports better decisions by
crafting a more informed, more clearly
communicated argument
Data Insight:
Central library
serves a large
Spanish-speaking
population.
Contextual
Insight:
Residents for
whom English is a
second language
struggle to access
information
services in our
community
7 Steps to Data Storytelling Original
Question:
Should we close
an underutilized
library?
Data-driven
decision:
No, we should
not close the
library.

15. ● Data Story: Explain Data & inspire Action through Story
○ Nancy Duarte
● Data Points: Visualization that Means Something
○ Nathan Yau
● Data Science & the Art of Persuasion
○ Scott Berinato
○ Article published in the Harvard Business Review, January-February 2019
Resources & Recommended Reading