“The ability to take data – to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it, is going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades…”
Hal Varian, The McKinsey Quarterly, January 2009
Data is increasingly being used to tell stories in different and more interesting ways.
I very much enjoy what Feltron is doing. You may not be interested in his Personal Annual Reports from 05 – 09, but they do demonstrate the expressive language of data (making the previously uninteresting, interesting).
Feltron is self admittedly only a couple of steps ahead of a future world packed with sensors and people who have taken ‘the red pill’ (i.e. those who have started digitalising their life for posterity).
News teams are craving this sort of trackable storytelling, looking forward to a time when people will be able to experience news on a different level, interactively and in real time. For news junkies, this is incredibly exciting. Imagine being able to read a story on the BBC News website and then being able to delve deeper into it to find out more about the subject. For example, if a headline reads WHO declares swine flu pandemic, the article might also include the latest WHO data for people to explore.
Giving the reader more power, adding transparency to institutions and enabling stories and comments to evolve from this, will allow the internet to become the great leveller.
Categories:
Data
