Ryan Gabrielson Katie Park Ron Nixon Nikole Hannah-Jones
"Everybody and their mom writes a census story."
"Numbers are a representation of things in the real world."
How many people still have outhouses? Census has it!
People 65+ are more likely to have houses with "other means of sewage disposal". But the story had only a few numbers in it. It was mostly people.
When you write a densely-populated numbers story, it looks like The Matrix.
Resegregation in the American South
Use data to find out what the story is, but not (necessarily) to tell it.
- One city or several?
- A School?
- A Team?
- A Class?
- Multiple characters or one?
- Teacher or student?
- Family?
- James (grandfather) — history of segregation leading up to and after Brown
- Melissa (mother) — Story of desegregation nationally and in Tuscaloosa
- D'Leisha — Intentional resegregation, present inequalities
"You have to put more than just a human face, you have to tell a whole story."
Can data visualization show empathy?
"The near and the far" — individual stories and broader picture.
Reducing a person to a little circle. It was important to represent them in a way that made them a little more human. Used names.
Provide context to meet people where they are. "Since you started reading 10 Syrians have left the country."
Breaking it down individually: Intercept breakdown of U.S. liability payments to Afghanistan, shows an individual incident and a cost, rather than a total.
Humanizing data is a reporting challenge.
Find the people whose numbers are being tracked. California Watch Policing Overtime
Get out from behind the desk. Track them down.
"Treat data stories like you treat every story."
Deadly Force in Black and White
Supplementary Homicide Report: Documents homicides police deem justified.
Simple graphic tells the story.
Humanizing doesn't just mean "where's your lead anecdote". It's telling the story so people can understand in context of themselves and their community.