We live in a data driven world. Our ability to generate and store data is increasing exponentially but, with data comes the need to analyse it and communicate it. Data stories such as infographics can bring facts to life, and is a way to simplify and help make sense and order out of a disparate collection of facts.  Learn simple strategies to engage all students in authentic, integrated, inquiry learning which blends computational methods with digital graphics to visualise data in meaningful, interesting and more dynamic ways.  See how you can engage your students in building effective stories from the hidden insights locked within the data they are exploring.

1. Cathie Howe
Manager, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
NSW Department of Education and Macquarie University

2. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
The Importance of Story
The shortest distance between truth and a
human being is story
Anthony deMello, One Minute Wisdom
Stories connect us all, always has, always will
Jeff Gomez, Transmedia Storytelling Master Class
Stories spark emotion
People use stories to make sense of things
People learn from stories
The Power of Storytelling, http://www.thestorytellers.com/the-power-of-storytelling
Storytelling and visual expression are integral parts of
human culture …
Segel, E & Heer, J. (2010) Narrative Visualisation: Telling Stories with Data

3. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
The Importance of Data
“The capacity to generate and store data has reached dizzying
proportions. What lies within the data represents the chance for
this generation to solve its most pressing problems – from disease
to climate change to health care and customer understanding.”
Gurjeet Singh (2015) Understanding the ‘shape’ of Data to Shape our World

4. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Story + Data
“melding the skills of computer science, statistics, artistic
design and storytelling”
Show me: new ways of visualising data sourced from The Economist http://www.economist.com/node/15557455

5. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Telling Stories with Data
• Narrative is the way we simplify and make sense of a complex
world
• It supplies context, insight, interpretation—all the things that
make data meaningful.
• You’re attempting to persuade, inspire trust, and lead change.
• Stories that incorporate data and analytics are more convincing
than those based on anecdotes or personal experience.

6. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
The Power of Story + Data:
World Vision Example

7. The Future of Storytelling
Stories are meaningful when they are memorable, impactful and personal.
Sourced from You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL-PAzrpqUQ

8. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Data and the NSW Syllabuses
Mathematics
DesignedbyFreepik

9. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Data and the NSW Syllabuses
Science

10. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Data and the NSW Syllabuses
History
Example Key inquiry questions:
What stories do other people tell about the past?
How can stories of the past be told and shared?
How do we describe the sequence of time?
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”
- Rudyard Kipling

11. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
An Example: First Fleet Data Set on Scootle

12. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Convert First Fleet Data Set to Google Sheets
Download spreadsheet, then upload and
covert to a Google Doc.
Share with Students

13. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Pivot Tables
• Pivot tables can be an example of two-way
tables. It’s a tool that can extract significance
from a large data set.
• Data summarisation tool found in data
visualization programs such as spreadsheets
• Allows you to interpret data in different ways

14. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Pivot Tables and the First Fleet Data Set
Working with two variables in this example – gender and
ship
Examine the relationships between the two variables
Can you find a story in this data?

15. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Visual Data Analysis – telling the story of data (Infographic)
“Visual data analysis blends
highly advanced
computational methods with
sophisticated graphics
engines to tap the
extraordinary ability of
humans to see patterns and
structure in even the most
complex visual
presentations.”
2015 Interim Horizon Report K-12

16. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Scaffold for Telling Data Stories
1. Define Audience
2. Create Hypotheses
3. Sketch
4. Get Data
5. Explore Data
6. Tell the Story
http://online-behavior.com/analytics/stories
Daniel Waisberg is an Analytics Advocate at
Google and the Founder of Online Behavior
“Data analysis isn’t about graphics and
visualizations; it’s about telling a story”
“Analysis doesn't have to be long and complex.”
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/tell-meaningful-stories-with-data.html

17. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Practices for telling great stories with data
Whitepaper, “5 best practices for telling great stories with data. Tableau Software
https://www.tableau.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers/whitepaper_best-practices_telling_great_stories.pdf
Sourced from Flickr by US Department of Agriculture: The cost of raising a child
Think of Your Analysis as a Story
1. Find the story first – explore the data
2. Determine what you want people to do
as a result
3. Write out the “story board” for your
audience
Be authentic – your story will flow
• Make it personal, make it emotional
• Start with a metaphor or anecdote
• Develop with data - authenticity is
rooted in facts and facts are rooted in
data
• Supplement hard data with qualitative
data

18. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Practices for telling great stories with data
Be Visual – think of yourself as a film editor
• Use pictures and graphs
• Design your graphs and charts for instant readability but
allow for layers of meaning as the graph is studied
Make it easier for your audience and you
• Telling a story should be simple and direct. Recall and action
will be that much stronger
• Stick to 2-3 key issues and how they relate to your audience
• No hoop jumping

19. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Stories you can tell with Data
Time
• A reporting story about the past
• An explanatory story about the present
• A prediction story about the future
Focus
• What story
• Why story
• How to address the issue story
Frequency of lightning
http://dupress.com/articles/data-driven-storytelling/

20. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Locating Data
Collect your own data.
Access the vast number of public data sets.
• Sea surface information data sets
• Weather Observations data sets
• Terrestrial protected areas under Australian Government jurisdiction
• Frog Atlas for South Australia
• The First Fleet
• Climate data

21. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Sourcing Data Sets
Access the vast number of public data sets. Here just a few examples:

22. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
What is an Infographic?
Infographics are graphic
visual representations of
information or data that
can present complex
information quickly and
clearly.
Data analysis isn‘t about
graphics and visualizations;
it‘s about telling a story.

23. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Student Designed Infographic using Piktochart
Sourced from: http://catlintucker.com/2013/11/student-designed-infographics-
process-products/

24. Image sourced from http://magurtis.blogspot.com.au/

27. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Free tools for Creating Infographics & Charts
easely Piktochart

28. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Free tools for Creating Infographics & Charts
infogr.am VENNGAGE visually

29. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
WFP: Country Donors and Recipients
http://cdn.wfp.org/data/globe/

30. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
CYBERTHREAT REAL – TIME MAP
https://cybermap.kaspersky.com/

31. Cathie Howe, Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Hans Rosling’s Yardstick of Wealth
Hans Rosling is famous for presenting public data about the world with the most elegant
and innovative infographic technology, all to tell a gripping story of the world's past,
present and future development.

32. catherine.howe@det.nsw.edu.au
http://au.linkedin.com/in/cathiehowe
@cathie_h
@macict
www.macict.edu.au
Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Building C5B, Macquarie University
NSW, 2109
Ph | 02 9850 4310 | macictsupport@det.nsw.edu.au
Contact Details