{"id":43,"date":"2015-01-15T20:46:23","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T19:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beatricemartini.it\/blog\/?p=43"},"modified":"2015-03-16T16:58:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T15:58:16","slug":"responsible-data-storytelling-npdev14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beatricemartini.it\/blog\/responsible-data-storytelling-npdev14\/","title":{"rendered":"On data storytelling \u2013 and how to make it responsibly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Processed<\/a>Picture from the Responsible Data Storytelling<\/em> session, by Beatrice Martini (CC BY-SA 2.0).<\/small><\/p>\n

Thanks to Nasma Ahmed, Renee Black and Sarah Moncelle for collaborating on editing this blogpost.<\/i><\/p>\n

Stories are a key element of knowledge, and as such fuel evidence and empowerment. They can help communicate problems and challenges we might not have experienced personally, but that are key to be aware of in order to inform our understanding and agency as active members of our societies.<\/p>\n

A compelling way to tell stories is through data. Presented as numbers, percentages and visualisations, data can transmit a message directly and sharply, often also helping going beyond misunderstandings caused by language or tone unclarity in our communication.<\/p>\n

But are all data good (as in \u201cnot harmful\u201d)? Is \u201cthe more the merrier\u201d the most helpful way to work with them? Spoiler alert: no, and no.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As activists and capacity builders it is our responsibility to make sure the data and information we\u2019re working with are secure and that we\u2019re not making the people we\u2019re working with vulnerable.<\/p>\n

At the 2014 Nonprofit Software Development Summit (read more about it here<\/a>) Nasma Ahmed, Renee Black, Nathalie Cheng, Mark Libkuman, Sarah Moncelle, Jessie Rose Lee, Ria, Yiming Roberts and I got together in a session I had the opportunity to propose and facilitate. The discussion started as a reflection on how technology (in any shape, from data to software, maps and more) can help social justice issues in the space of gender rights. Soon our brainstorming took a more specific direction which, by the end of the session, the participants themselves had summed up under the name of \u201cResponsible Data Storytelling\u201d (you can find our \u2013 very raw! \u2013 notes here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

What do we mean by Responsible Data Storytelling?<\/b><\/p>\n

Technology and data offer activists, journalists and campaigners precious opportunities to serve and help individuals and communities who find themselves in dangerous and sometime also low-resourced contexts. At the same time, the very same technology and data, if used irresponsibly, can even aggravate their situation.<\/p>\n

So how can we tell the stories of people who are in danger and often not seen nor heard? How can we help them make their struggle known and understood by anyone, from policy makers to citizens exercising their right to vote and consequently influencing the adoption of policies and aid programmes, while at same time protecting them?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s needed to make it happen?<\/b><\/p>\n

We want to put our knowledge and professional expertise at the service of marginalised communities, learn from them about their battles and understand together what we could do to help them.<\/p>\n

During our session we exchanged learnings, best practices and tips about relevant resources which can greatly help approaching this type of work. But we also realised we hadn\u2019t yet find a comprehensive checklist addressing all aspects to be considered when working on a responsible data storytelling project, from conception to management, production and delivery.<\/p>\n

So we thought: how about creating a guideline to help everyone involved in such a project being aware of the potential pitfalls but also of the best practices we can adopt when aiming to use technology to help tell and share stories responsibly?<\/p>\n

Some aspects we identified\/ sections the guideline could focus on:<\/p>\n