Data visualisation as a campaign tool for change
130
Data Visualisation as a Campaign Tool for Change Presented by for littlewebgiants.co m enquiries@littlewebgiants .com Tuesday 24 th September, 2013
-
Upload
little-web-giants -
Category
Technology
-
view
1.474 -
download
5
description
This presentation was for Social Media Week Berlin on Tuesday, 24th September. It was targeted at NGOs, NPOs, activist organisations and charities who have important key messages to share with the community. The event will combine elements of a presentation and workshop. We will examine case studies of campaigns that have successfully used data visualisation in tandem with social media and content marketing techniques to spread information and ideas, and to counteract prevailing myths about climate change and renewable energy technology. We will then allow time for participants to split up into small working groups. Structured discussion tasks and group feedback will allow participants to investigate how these strategies can apply to their own organisation or issue. Participants will learn practical steps for identifying important messages, researching and developing content, incorporating data visualisation in a powerful and meaningful way, and promoting their data visualisation campaigns through social media and email outreach. In particular, the event will focus on developing powerful stories that will attract the support of influential sharers and thought leaders from a range of backgrounds, from activism through to industry, so as to maximise the campaign's reach and impact.
Transcript of Data visualisation as a campaign tool for change
Data Visualisation as a Campaign Tool for Change
Presented by for
littlewebgiants.com
Tuesday 24th September, 2013
What is data visualisation?
What is data visualisation?
Year Number of Pairs
2006 9789
2005 7066
2000 6471
1999 6404
1998 5748
1997 5295
1996 5094
1995 4712
1994 4449
1993 4015
1992 3749
1991 3399
Number of Bald Eagle Breeding Pairs in Lower 48 States
Unintelligible information
What is data visualisation?Number of Bald Eagle Breeding Pairs in Lower
48 States
1963
1966
1969
1972
1975
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Intelligible information
What is data visualisation?
The visual representation of information to make it more
intelligible.
What can data visualisation do?
What can data visualisation do?
Find stories in data that aren’t possible to see from looking at a
spreadsheet.
What can we visualise?
Relationships
What can we visualise?
Trends
What can we visualise?
Change
What can we visualise?
Change
What can we visualise?
Geospatial patterns
Source: Where America Lives, Time
What data do we use?
http://moebio.com/newk/twitter/
“Big data”
What data do we use?
Government Universities CorporationsInternational Organisations
Unlock existing data sets
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
To uncover social problems and
substantiate claims.
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Example:
“Gentrification in Berlin is causing long-term inner city residents to be
displaced to outer districts with more affordable rent prices.“
Is this true?
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Raw Data
Research solutions.
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Example:“How do we tackle the problem of
rising global population?”
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Communicate Ideas.
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Example:“We already have the renewable
energy technology we need to power the world sustainably.”
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Two Energy Futures2035 energy mix
International Energy Agency’s most likely scenario
http://www.twoenergyfutures.org/
Two Energy Futures2035 energy mix
powered by existing renewable technologies
http://www.twoenergyfutures.org/
Mythbusting
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Example:“Solar energy is too expensive.”
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Solar Myths Infographic
http://www.pv-magazine.com/features/solar-superhero/infographic-setting-the-solar-story-straight/
Hold government and corporations to account.
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Example:“Which government departments answer the most FOI requests?”
Why is this useful for people who want to create social
change?
Transparenter Staat?
http://www.zeit.de/digital/ifg-anfragen#BMFhttps://fragdenstaat.de
Where can we use data visualisation?
• Internal decision making and campaign strategy decisions
• Public awareness campaigns• Lobbying, whitepapers and research
documents
Let’s get started!
says Simon Rogers, Data editor at Twitter, creator of the
Guardian Datablog.
http://simonrogers.net/2013/01/24/anyone-can-do-it-data-journalism-is-the-new-punk/
“Data Viz is the new Punk”“Anyone can do it”
So, we need an infographic...
http://www.thinkbrilliant.com/infographic/
So, we need an infographic...
http://www.thinkbrilliant.com/infographic/
Analysis of 30 most popular infographics on Visual.ly
• Keep it simple: one main idea or message
• Get your facts right• Shares from power users more
important than design• http://blog.visual.ly/top-30-viral-infog
raphics/
Analysis of 30 most popular infographics on Visual.ly
• Timely or news related content• Observational, everyday life humour• Instructional or how to content
Popular content types
Analysis of 30 most popular infographics on Visual.ly
• Process chart• List Text• Single chart
• Timeline• Repeated charts• Mixed charts
Types of charts
Purpose
• Be clear about your purpose before you begin.
• It’s like writing a thesis – you should be able to write your main idea or question on the back of an envelope.
• Think about what questions you want to ask the data.
Purpose
• Investigating and verifying claims• Mythbusting• Holding government or corporations
to account• Showing the scale/extent/nature of a
problem• Conveying solutions to a problem
Brainstorming
• What fact shocked you when you first heard about it?
• What have you always wanted to understand better?
• What’s a common misconception or myth you encounter?
• What can we compare across time or across geography (countries, states)?
• What facts do we need to hold governments and corporations to account?
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
• Social Media Week is trying to get 50-50 male-female participation.
• We know that women are underrepresented in STEM.
• Which countries have the highest and lowest proportion of female participation in STEM?
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Find the data set
After a bit of Googling...
…we found a reference to a UNESCO report “A Global Perspective on
Research and Development”.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Find the data set
Their charts leave something to be desired.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Find the data set
Can we find the original data?Yes!
Go to: http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/tableviewer/document.aspx?ReportId=143 and select the “beta” data explorer.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Filter the data
Filter the data set to only show us the most recent year. Download.
Where to find data
• Government statistics• UN and other international organisations• NGOs• Corporations – may be limited in how you
can use it• http://datamarket.com/• https://code.google.com/p/google-refine/• https://offenedaten.de/• Guardian data blog
Cleaning the data
• Work in Excel or free/open spreadsheet program
• Most data will need to be cleaned up and simplified
• Remove extra columns and rows, formatting
• Possibly remove outliers or suspect data
• Combine multiple data sets
Preliminary Analysis
• Use the chart tools in Excel to quickly spot interesting trends
• Pursue these in more sophisticated tools
Honesty
With great power comes great responsibility!
Data visualisation is a powerful tool –don‘t use it to unintentionally or
deliberately mislead.
Honesty
• 3D tilted pie chart distorts the information.
• Apple‘s share of the market appears larger than it really is.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2008/jan/21/liesdamnliesandstevejobs
Honesty
• Too many colours and poor layout makes the system appear overly complex
http://blog.garrytan.com/epic-win-infographics-expose-republican-chart
Honesty
• Anyone can do it, but it‘s not always easy to do it right.
• Take the time to learn basic conventions.
• Be open about your methodology and data sources.
What chart for what data?
Changes over time (trends)Line Graph or Timeline
What chart for what data?
Relationship between two variables
Scatter Plot
What chart for what data?
Discrete quantitiesBar Chart
What chart for what data?
Categories and subcategoriesStacked Bar Chart
What chart for what data?
Relationship of part to wholePie Chart
What chart for what data?
3 related variablesBubble Chart
What chart for what data?
ProcessesFlow chart
Some things to be careful with...
CirclesVariables should determine area, not
radius
http://de.slideshare.net/vis4/making-data-visualizations-a-survival-guide
Some things to be careful with...
Pie chartsIt‘s hard to assess the relative size of
areas
Some things to be careful with...
3DWe have enough trouble
understanding 2D
Some things to be careful with...
Stacked area graphUse a stacked bar or line graph instead
http://www.leancrew.com/all-this/2011/11/i-hate-stacked-area-charts/
Some things to be careful with...
Heat maps Don‘t just make a population map.
http://www.thinkbrilliant.com/infographic/
Show densities and percentages, not absolute values.
Some things to be careful with...
Heat maps Geographical space doesn‘t equal
population
http://aidontheedge.info/2012/11/07/mapping-politics-and-the-politics-of-maps/
Some things to be careful with...
Colour BreaksHow you categorise data changes the
story
http://www.directionsmag.com/articles/choropleth-mapping-with-exploratory-data-analysis/123579
Some things to be careful with...
Colour Breaks• Experiment at histagram.me• Upload your data to Google
Spreadsheets then try using different break patterns
Some things to be careful with...
Colour BreaksJenks Natural Breaks
http://histagram.me
Some things to be careful with...
Colour BreaksEvenly spaced bins
http://histagram.me
Tools
• Tableau• Fusion tables• Datawrapper• Open Office• Data Explorer (Open Knowledge Foundation
Labs)
• Histagram.me• Javascript
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Explore the data
Upload to Google Spreadsheets.Tidy up blank rows etc.File>Publish to Web.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Explore the data
Grab the spreadsheet key out of the URL.
?key=0AtPP45x7g3J6dEFmYjFkS1pqTEdpcFJQWnBKOHFOVVE
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Explore the data
Paste key into http://histagram.me.
Explore different bin options (colour breaks).
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Download http://www.tableausoftware.com/.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Connect your data file and drag and drop fields.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Select your chart type.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Display your data using custom bins.
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
Let’s visualise!Edit colours and tooltips, and publish to the web.
Tone
• Things that are shareable need to have more than a “wow – cool” attraction or they won’t attract the attention of anyone except data nerds.
• There must be a clearly articulated human story with an emotional tone.
• Emotions = shares.
ToneHumour
ToneOutrage
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/3/034004/article
ToneOutrage
http://visual.ly/amazing-roi-corporate-lobbying
ToneBe Useful
http://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/stories/how-to-go-green-at-the-office-infographic
Accessibility
You can’t completely replace a data visualisation for the vision impaired,
but you should convey the key information in another way.
Accessibility - Colour
Colour blindness affects 5% or more of the population.Don‘t use a red-green colour scheme:
http://colororacle.org/resources/2007_JennyKelso_DesigningMapsForTheColourVisionImpaired.pdf
Accessibility - Colour
Create colour blind safe colour schemes using http://colorbrewer2.org/.
Accessibility - Colour
http://colororacle.org allows you to add a “colour blind filter“ to artwork you are designing to check your work while in progress.
Accessibility
Also think about:• People with cognitive disabilities (a
simple text version)• People with poor internet connection
or older computers (a no Javascript version)
• Hearing disabilities if relevant
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
What’s the story?
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
What’s the story?What am I looking at?Why should I care?
Here’s something we prepared earlier…
What’s the story?Germany lags behind in female participation in research.
The perfect data visualisation
• Compelling title• Byline• Lead text that explains the story• Instructions for any interactivity• Where the numbers come from• Link to original source• Legends and labels as needed
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack Social mediacollateral
Analytics
Materials needed
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
Name of project
URL (hyperlinked)
One line summary
Screenshot of data visualisation
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
Screenshot of data visualisation
Something that conveys the essence of the images
Detailed summary
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
Summary of key facts
How does this interest your target market?
Contact details (hyperlinked)
Marketing campaign preparation
Media pack
• Press release: 500 – 1,000 words
• Images at various sizes
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Title tag
Meta description
Keywords
• clean energy• renewable energy• climate change• fossil fuels• unconventional oil• fracking
• tar sands• shale oil• deep sea drilling• environment• nuclear power• biofuels
Maximum 70 characters
Maximum 160 characters (155 to be safe)
Pick keywords that are relevant to your campaign
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Title tag
Meta description
Keywords
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Twitter cards
What is interesting?
Why should I care?
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Twitter cards
Great!
I love
Whitney Houston!
* Click *
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Twitter cards
More info:
https://dev.twitter.com/docs/cards
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Facebook Open Graph meta tags
No Open Graph tags :
No control over how content looks when shared.
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Facebook Open Graph meta tags
Open Graph tags :
Control over how content looks when
shared.
Marketing campaign preparation
Social media collateral
Facebook Open Graph meta tags
More info:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/
Marketing campaign preparation
Analytics
Marketing campaign preparation
Analytics
Google Analytics (visits)
Marketing campaign preparation
Analytics
AddThis Analytics (shares)
“Just one more thing…”
“Just one more thing…”
What action are you asking people to take?
Donate
Share
Write to a political figure
Sign a petitionBoycott a
product
Marketing campaign
What to include in your emails
• A link to the data visualisation
• A link to the image on Facebook(shared from your page so you also get
likes)
Marketing campaign
Who to contact
• Friends and colleagues
• Organisations who it would interest
• Businesses who profit from your
message
• Articles/blogs focused on your area
• Mainstream news sites
• Facebook groups
Post campaign
What to measure and report
• Visits
• Shares
• Mentions in prominent media
• Mentions in prominent blogs
• Any other actions taken. For example,
“target product stopped using palm
oil.“
Resources
• Guardian• New York Times• Boston Globe• Propublica• Flowing Data• Moebio• Tactical Tech• Open Data City• Mapbox
• Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland
• Visual.ly• the functional art• Facts are Sacred• Accurat• OpenVis Conf• Google!
Thanks for listening!
Presented by for
littlewebgiants.com
Now go and visualise some data...
