DATA VIZ 106

ALTERNATIVE REPORTING FORMATS

This deck was designed as a guide for staff looking for resources for creating videos and other alternative reporting formats.

Jessica Dubow Amanda Makulec

JSI Center for Health Information,

Monitoring & Evaluation

November 2014

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+ Why Does Interactivity Matter?

+ Interactive Timeline

+ Scrolling Webpage

+ Interactive Graphics

+ Visualizing Data with Video

+ JSI Examples

+ Not Convinced?

+ Quick Tips

+ Approaches to Making Videos

+ Getting Started

+ What Are Slidedocs?

+ Why Use Slidedocs?

+ Making Slidedocs Web-Accessible

TABLE OF CONTENTS

+ How We Consume Information

Introduction Interactive Formats

Videographics Slidedocs

01 02 03 04

Pages 22-26

Pages 10-21 Pages 5-9 Pages 3-4

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How We Consume Information

Traditional reporting formats, usually a reference to long-form reports, have their limitations. Though they are packed with information their content is rarely presented concisely or straightforwardly. In the context of fast-paced business environments where most adults learn visually and have 8 second attention spans, long-form reports simply require too much valuable time.

Consider how you consume information—when was the last time you settled down to read one of these reports? When was the last time you handed one to a co-worker saying, “Oh you just have to read this fascinating 50 page document”? Alternatively, when was the last time you clicked through an infographic in your email? Or shared a two-minute video on Twitter or Facebook? It’s likely much more recent, and much more often.

Alterative reporting formats—which include data visualizations, infographics, videos, slidedocs, and more—can still be packed with information, but they present it as easily consumable and retainable bits. They are tailored to specific audiences, remove unnecessary content and visual clutter, and engage their audience more than long-form reports. Because of this, they are also more shareable. Remembering data and effectively disseminating it are key to evidence-based decision making and to helping JSI achieve its mission.

This slide deck will review alternative reporting with a special emphasis on videographics and slidedocs.

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“We click and consume information on a daily basis. It appears constantly in inboxes, social media, streams, and web browsers, putting us in a constant state of information overload. How we consume information has fundamentally changed, though standard project reporting formats (often required by funders) have been slow to catch up.”

--Clive Thompson, Wired Magazine

Interactive Formats

Why Does Interactivity Matter?

Interactive Timeline

Scrolling Webpage

Interactive Graphics

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Why Does Interactivity Matter?

Interactivity promotes exploration. Interactive features create a

more engaging, interesting, thought-provoking experience for

your user that makes it memorable.

You may worry that alternative reporting formats skimp on the

details in favor of quick, broad overviews. While alternative

reporting formats often do condense information into key

takeaway messages or actionable insights, interactivity is one way

they share large amounts of data without compromising their

simplicity.

Interactive features allow you to share big-picture, high-level

themes first and then let your audience explore the details if

they desire. In this way your audience is not overwhelmed and the

data is still presented in small consumable bits, but the audience

can access details on demand and at their own pace.

When exploring different interactive options, keep in mind that an

increasing proportion of internet users access the web through

tablets and mobile phones in addition to computers. Think about

making information accessible to those users with responsive

charts like those on chartist.js.

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Interactive Timeline For what? Telling a story that unfolds with anecdotes and results over time, particularly if you have photos, graphs, and other visual elements to include.

Examples: Both these examples allow you to scroll through a timeline that contains clickable events. Though you are initially only presented with an overview, when you click on the events, you have the option of reading more or enlarging images.

› Fight for Democracy in the Middle East (complex, built in Tiki-Toki)

› MEASURE Evaluation (simple, built in Timeline JS)

Tools:

› Tiki-Toki is a free web-based tool that allows you to build interactive timelines that integrate pictures, videos, and detailed text into clickable events.

› Timeline JS is an open-source web-based tool that allows you to create interactive timelines from Google spreadsheets and publish these timelines on the web.

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Scrolling Webpage For what? To tell your data story on an elegant, scrolling webpage where elements appear to move as you maneuver around the screen. Scrolling webpages eliminate the step of downloading a PDF, which makes them more accessible, especially for audiences abroad who may have incredibly slow internet speeds.

Examples: This scrolling webpage is long but kept engaging with embedded images, videos, graphs, multiple choice questions, slides, and a clickable table of contents. There is the option of downloading the letter in PDF form too if anyone prefers this format.

› Gates Foundation Annual Letter 2014

Tools: These scrolling web pages require a web-designer to build anything unique or complex.

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Interactive Graphics For what? To share data in a format that promotes exploration by your audience, who can drill down to different levels of the data using interactive controls. Consider who your audience is in order to determine if this is an appropriate format. You don’t want to distract or overwhelm, but you want to offer enough interactivity for the curious to explore.

Also consider that some audiences will want completed results, conclusions and analyses whereas others will appreciate that interactive graphics allow them to develop their own conclusions by playing with the data. Don’t forget to also consider your audience’s time and interest in the subject as this will also affect the likelihood they engage with an interactive graphic.

Examples: These examples allow you to click through data to see it organized in different ways.

› PRB World Data 2014

› SPRING Factors Affecting Nutrition in Uganda

Tools:

› Tableau (especially new StoryPoints) is a free web-based tool for creating graphs and interactive dashboards. Be careful because any data you publish becomes public.

› Drupal is an open-source website management platform.

Videographics

Visualizing Data with Video

JSI Examples

Not Convinced?

Quick Tips

Approaches to Making Videos

Getting Started

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Visualizing Data with Video A summary of why video works from Anni Murray’s Visual.ly Blog Post

The average attention span for video is much higher than for traditional text-based reporting methods. Using video with other methods is critical in today’s media driven world.

Like infographics, videos and motion graphics use text and graphic elements to tell a data story, but they have additional tools available to them like animation, live action video, music, and narration. They are able to engage your senses of sight and hearing together at once, and the effect is a dynamic visualization that changes over time, includes multimedia elements, and is a familiar and enjoyable format for many viewers.

However, videos have a time limit. You may struggle to condense all your information into a two or three minute video and viewers who aren’t immediately hooked may click away after just a few seconds. Videos may require loading, which makes them less effective for people with poor internet connections. Videos can be overwhelming, aren’t easily referenced at a glance, and rely on a viewer’s willingness to watch.

Consider these things when deciding if a video is your best course of action, but know that well-designed videos can deliver impactful messages and be a sum greater than their parts. Also consider ways to overcome some of their limitations—you could include a transcript that can be quickly skimmed or embed the video within a website that loads faster than the video.

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JSI Designed Videos: Some Examples

JSI has already begun creating different types of videos, and these examples show the flexibility of video media, from live drawings to animations.

5th Birthday: How We Can End Preventable Child Deaths

The Story of Mary: TB is Curable

Getting Products to People: How Integration Can Transform Public Health Supply Chains

Zero Deaths From TB

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Not Convinced? Here’s More Support for Video

There is hard evidence that videos are an effective platform for

consuming and sharing information.

Every month 4 billion hours of video are viewed on

YouTube; every year more than 350 million videos are shared on

Twitter. When the word “video” is used in an e-mail subject line,

open rates double. In addition, click through rates increase 2-3

times when a video is included in an email. Videos are important

for reaching a younger audience as 83% of 12-17 year olds and

91% of 18-24 year olds watch online videos on a regular basis.

Not only do people like watching videos, but those videos impact

their actions. People who watch a video are 85% more likely to

make a purchase than those who don’t. Companies using video

require 37% fewer site visits before a person responds to a call for

action.

Videos are getting easier and less expensive to make. You can

even make animations yourself using online tools. These various

approaches will be covered in following slides.

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Quick Tips for Using Video Effectively From Your Video Marketing Handbook Infographic

Include a creative hook in the first ten seconds since 20% of

viewers will stop watching a video if they are not engaged in this

short time.

Avoid too much text. Keep text short and legible and leave it on

the screen as long as possible without boring the reader. Moving

text is difficult to read and viewers have different reading speeds.

Leaving text on the screen too long may bore faster readers while

transitioning too quickly may stress slower readers.

Appeal to universal emotions. The most effective and shared

videos are those that are funny, moving, surprising, or unique.

Include a link to your website so that you can direct viewer

traffic once your video ends.

Produce quality content on a regular schedule. Successful

brands tend to have 50% more videos than their competitors so

be consistent about releasing content.

Use social media since these social networks are where most

viewers discover and share videos.

Remember, any successful communications,

fundraising, or advocacy campaign is multi-faceted and

involves strategic planning, integrated components, and

carefully timed phases.

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Approaches to Making a Video

JSI has used several different approaches to create videos. Three different examples are reviewed below and discussed on subsequent slides.

Design Firm Watch here. SC4CCM hired an external design firm because they liked the professional and engaging videos this firm made. They wanted to showcase project work and key findings to a wider audience than they usually reach.

Community-Based Video SPRING/Digital Green Collaborate Approach to Community-led Video for Nutrition wanted to take advantage of growing interest in new technologies, building capacity for participatory videos, and creating linkages between agriculture, WASH, and livelihoods. They created videos of community members talking about nutrition and showed facilitated screenings.

Online Tool Watch here. SC4CCM wanted to use in-house designers to create a Prezi but no one was available, so they explored options online and found Go Animate, a cheap tool that seemed very user-friendly. Interested in other online tools? Check out this list.

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Approaches to Making a Video

Pros: Cons:

Design Firm › High quality, professional video › Designers helped distill messages

into catchy, engaging storyline › Fast turn around (about 9 weeks)

› More expensive (ask CHIME for detailed budget) › Required a lot of interaction from JSI staff with

the design team to make sure everyone was on the same page.

› Design firm usually works with a US audience so there were some cultural misunderstandings with the graphics.

Online Tool (Go Animate)

› Inexpensive; cost 3 months of Go Animate membership and a voiceover expert.

› JSI staff could work at their own pace and didn’t feel as rushed as when working with a designer.

› There are many online support forums that quickly answer any technical questions.

› Took a lot of JSI staff time (6+ months) so you have to factor in the cost of their time

› Required a staff member to learn new programs. › JSI staff is less experienced with showing

complex messages in concise visual ways › Result is less professional looking than an

outsourced video.

Community-Based Video

› Engaged multiple partners and community actors.

› Inexpensive way to promote behavior change.

› Communities like watching the videos with familiar faces in them.

› Technical issues: lack of lighting and complications of needing multiple actors to achieve content communication.

› Knowledge issues: those making and editing the videos may not be experts in the subject matter.

› Increased workload of field personnel.

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Approaches to Making a Video: Lessons Learned For Your Consideration

Design Firm: › Best to finalize key messages

before beginning work since cost and time increase when there are changes.

› Try to keep messaging as concise as possible.

› Multiple rounds of meeting are needed to provide ongoing feedback—even when outsourcing, expect frequent communication with design team.

Online Tool: › Figure out your characters

first and try to work in chronological order because its tedious to make changes.

› Recognize that the script will likely change and it is difficult to estimate the length of time needed for voiceovers.

› Prepare to spend a lot of time reviewing and making edits—like when outsourcing, this requires a commitment from the project team, but this is spread out over more time.

Community-Based Video: › The beginning period of the

program required much handholding by Digital Green and involvement by SPRING. However, now that CSPs have more knowledge and experience, they should be able to work independently moving forward.

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Getting Started: Mapping a Storyboard and Writing a Script

No matter which approach you take to creating your video, you have to start with a plan. The planning stage is critical. It will either save you extensive back-and-forth with your outsourced design team or it will prevent you yourself from having to spend time re-doing work. Everyone has a different creative process, so feel free to tailor this to your own needs.

Most people start by brainstorming. Brainstorming can be done in different forms and stages. If you’re working with a team, it may be useful for you to take some individual time to consider all your own ideas. Sketch your thoughts out on paper. This allows you to visualize your ideas and draw connections. You’ll also have a record of your creative process to help you remember.

At this point, you may want to start working with your team. Your initial goal should be to generate as many ideas as possible. Ask “How Might We” questions and use post-it notes placed on a wall so that ideas can be grouped and rearranged and everyone can look at them together. For more information, review the Storyboard Development section of this slide deck.

Image credit: Ann Emery, annkemery.com

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Getting Started: Mapping a Storyboard and Writing a Script

Ask yourself and your team:

1. What is the goal of this video? Why are we

making it?

2. Who are we making this video for?

3. What’s our narrow video topic? (Be specific)

4. What are the takeaway messages we want

viewers to gain from this video?

5. What’s our call-to-action? What do we want

viewers to do after they’ve finished watching

the video?

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Getting Started: Mapping a Storyboard and Writing a Script

Once you have generated many ideas, its time to start organizing them. Using post-it notes aids this process, but you can also mindmap on a sheet of paper or using an online tool like Draw.io or Twine.

Now its time to turn your mindmap into a storyboard. You can either use large post-it notes for each stage of your storyboard, fold a sheet of paper, or use an online tool like Storyboard That. Your storyboard should stand alone and make sense to others without you having to pitch it, even if its comprised of very basic sketches.

Allow everyone on your team to create an anonymous storyboard, and then hang them up next to each other. Allow everyone to walk around silently and place an unlimited amount of check marks near ideas, frames, or entire storyboards that they like. Have a conversation, and then vote (or use multiple rounds of voting) to pull out everyone’s favorite ideas.

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Getting Started: Mapping a Storyboard and Writing a Script

At this point, you should have a framework storyboard for which you can start writing a script. It doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy—in fact, the simpler the better so that it comes off straightforward and natural in your video. Don’t bullet point your script. Write in plain, conversational English as this will allow you to connect better with you viewers.

Your script should include more than a narration. In fact, some videos don’t even have a voiceover, they just use text on screen and music. So, your script should include details regarding camera shots, characters, backgrounds, and text if you plan to use it. Google offers some templates you can use to inspire yourself and understand how to format your script.

Using Google Docs can help you collaborate with your team on the script. When you have written something, get together with your team and do a table read. Even if you only plan to have one narrator, it will be useful for everyone to hear how your video flows and if it makes sense. Edit, edit, edit.

It’s likely that changes will be made to your script after you have started creating a video because you’ll notice things you might not have thought of before you could visualize the finished product. However, the better your script is to start, the less you’ll have to backtrack which will save you a lot of time and money.

Slidedocs

What Are Slidedocs?

Why Use Slidedocs?

Making Slidedocs Web-Accessible

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What Are Slidedocs?

This resource guide is a Slidedoc.

Slidedocs are report layout formats that offer a compromise between bulleted presentation slides and long-form reports, with templates designed for use in the ubiquitous Powerpoint by Nancy Duarte. They’re meant to be read, not presented, so they contain complete sentences and ideas.

However, they break content up into slides (pages) that can be flipped through easily. Their organization, use of white space and lack of clutter help them to be understood quickly and allow them to be very educational, even when packed with text.

A Slidedoc is an appropriate tool for you if you have detailed information to share but won’t be there to explain it, if your content is aided by visuals and prose, and if your information is better consumed in small visual chunks.

For an comprehensive overview of slidedocs and an excellent example of one, check out Nancy Duarte’s deck.

Slide decks are made in the familiar tool of PowerPoint, but be careful that you don’t accidentally create a presentation. Nancy Duarte offers some great templates to help you structure your Slidedoc here. When in doubt, hand your Slidedoc to a coworker and see if they are able to understand it without any supporting explanations from you.

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Why Use Slidedocs? Because they are:

Visual: visualizing information helps your audience see what

you’re explaining

Versatile: they can incorporate graphs, photos, text, videos, etc.

Interactive: slidedocs contain internal links and also link to web-

pages

Tablet Ready: the aspect ratio makes slidedocs easy to load

onto other devices

Spreadable: their modular nature allows slides to be moved

around and incorporated into other decks

Shareable: SlideShare makes slidedocs embeddable, tag-able,

and shareable, but they can also be emailed easily as PDFs or

presentations

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Making Slidedocs Web-Accessible

SlideShare is an online tool you can use to share presentations and slide decks by easily uploading them to this tag-able and searchable website. Once uploaded, you can view your presentations on the SlideShare website or you can embed them elsewhere. This way your audience can click through your presentation without having to download the PowerPoint or PDF.

Examples

› SlideShare embedded on a website

› DataViz Presentation Decks on SlideShare site

Connect DataVizHub.co

Questions, updates, ideas, or suggestions? Amanda Makulec | amakulec@jsi.com