Data Storytelling: Using visualization to share the human impact of numbers

Authors

Jock Mackinlay, Vice President, Research & Design, Tableau Software

Robert Kosara, Research Scientist, Visual Analysis – Tableau Software

Michelle Wallace, Product Marketing – Tableau Software

Storytelling is a cornerstone of the human experience. Throughout human history, we have developed new mediums for telling stories—from oral histories to printed books to movies and even comic books. But can stories be told with data, as well as with images and words?

This whitepaper explores the evolution of storytelling throughout human history, focusing on how modern data visualization tools can be used to tell especially powerful stories with numbers.

Learn about the impact of stories on human cognition, how data stories can be used to communicate with decision makers, and how your data stories can be used to impact lasting change in the world. Download the whitepaper today.

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About the authors

Jock Mackinlay

Vice President, Research & Design, Tableau Software

Jock Mackinlay is Tableau's Vice President of Visual Analysis. At Stanford University he pioneered the automatic design of graphical presentations of relational information. He joined Xerox PARC in 1986, where he collaborated with the User Interface Research Group to develop many novel applications of computer graphics for information access, coining the term "Information Visualization." Much of the fruits of this research can be seen in his book, "Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think." Jock has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.

Robert Kosara

Research Scientist, Visual Analysis - Tableau Software

Robert Kosara is a researcher in Tableau's Visual Analysis group. Before he joined Tableau in 2012, he was a professor of computer science at UNC Charlotte. Robert has created visualization techniques like parallel sets and performed research into the perceptual and cognitive basics of visualization. Recently, his research has focused on how to communicate data using tools from visualization, and how storytelling can be adapted to incorporate data, interaction, and visualization.

Robert received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, Austria). His list of publications can be found online on his vanity website. He can be found on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Google Scholar.

Michelle Wallace

Product Marketing - Tableau Software

Michelle Wallace is a product marketer at Tableau Software, where she tells stories about how thought-leaders around the world are making an impact with data. She holds a BA in English from Western Washington University with a minor in astronomy. Prior to Tableau, Michelle was a magazine writer who covered local interests and histories around the United States.