Data Storytelling to communicate Big Data internally - a Guide for Practical Usage

Abstract

Data is collected from all aspects of our lives. Yet, data alone is useless unless converted into information and, ultimately, knowledge. Since data analysts, in most cases, are not the ones in charge of making decisions based on their findings, communicating the results to stakeholders is crucial to passing on information of data‐driven insights. That is where the discipline of data storytelling comes into play. Often, data storytelling is considered an effective data visualization. Creating data stories is a structured approach to communicating data insights as an interplay of the three elements data, visuals, and narrative. Sharing data‐driven insights to decision‐makers requires data storytellers skilled in the "art of storytelling." In this paper, the authors discuss the use of Storytelling in business to communicate data to internal stakeholders. The findings are derived from (1) an extensive literature review and (2) 13 expert interviews with people incorporating data storytelling into their daily work within their jobs in international companies. These interviews revealed the importance of providing a flexible tool to support knowledge sharing for people communicating complex data to internal stakeholders. Combining literature with qualitative research enabled the authors to create the "data storytelling cheat sheet", a guide for practical data storytelling.