March 17, 2022

Today, more and more people realize there is more to data storytelling than just data visualization. If you were to evaluate what makes a data story "good," you'd discover one crucial ingredient that's necessary--a meaningful insight. In this article, I review what insights are and the critical role they play in data stories. I also share thoughts from a recent journal article by Sorin Adam Matei and Lucas Hunter on the importance of insights to data storytelling in science communication and data journalism.

February 15, 2022

Data storytelling is one of the few data skills that combines both disciplines of art and science. In this article, I look at the different elements under each discipline and explain how they contribute to crafting and telling data stories effectively.

December 9, 2021

To become an effective data storyteller, you must shift your mindset from being reporting centered to embracing a different storytelling approach. In this article, I introduce the Insight Funnel and how reports/dashboards complement data stories. Then I explore the six key approach differences between reports/dashboards and data stories.

September 9, 2021

Recently, an image that associated LEGO bricks with data storytelling went viral on LinkedIn. As a LEGO fan and data storyteller, I decided to take a closer look at the five-step process from raw data to a data story. I developed my own version that I feel corrects some of the flaws in the original image. I believe this analogy can be useful in explaining the process of how a data story comes together.

March 26, 2020

As a data storyteller, you believe in the persuasive power of visual information. However, many of the popular statistics related to visual communication and perception cannot be trusted due to suspect citations and sources. We need to stop relying on these dubious statistics to preserve the integrity of our visual craft.