Effective Data Storytelling

Chapter 7 Visuals (Part 1) Setting the Scenes of Your Data Story

The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.

—John W. Tukey, mathematician

In 1989, in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), a 41-year-old Swedish physician faced a life-or-death situation. He had recently established a field laboratory to gather research on a rare paralytic disease called konzo when an angry, machete-waving mob approached his camp. His translator suggested they try to escape, but the doctor knew fleeing would have only placed their lives in more danger. Instead, he decided to confront the agitated villagers face-to-face. With limited resources and a substantial language barrier, the doctor’s communication skills would be essential to his survival.

After quickly rummaging through his knapsack, the Swedish physician pulled out a series of photographs of individuals who had been crippled by the same disease in Mozambique and Tanzania. He remembered seeing several children exhibiting the same telltale effects of konzo when he had arrived at the local village. With the help of the nervous translator, he told the upset locals he thought he knew the cause of the debilitating disease shown in the pictures—the same one that was affecting their children. The doctor then explained he would like to gather blood samples from the local people to help verify his research. As the villagers mumbled to themselves, one of the more ...