At ACT, Cheryl Phillips, Hearst Professional in Residence at Stanford University and former Seattle Times Data Innovation Editor, addressed the need to find the narrative in the data in order to make an impact. At the Seattle Times, she and her team of reporters layered narrative story forms on top of analytic skill in the emerging field of data journalism.
Ms. Phillips stressed the need to do analytical due diligence as you mine large data sets to explore unseen patterns. She also stressed the need to curate the story and to lead the audience through the data with discrete facts that articulate your narrative. Finally, she warned us to “mind the gap,” looking for where the data is missing so that you don’t misinterpret the story.
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