Data Stories: Engaging citizens with data in a post-truth society

在我们生活的后真相社会中，专家们必须找到新颖的方法，向公民提供确凿、真实的数据。数据既要提供信息，也要娱乐；既要教育，也要激励。它必须建立在通过社交渠道分享的基础上，并成为我们日常活动和与他人互动的一部分。Data Stories将着眼于通过艺术、游戏和故事讲述将数据带给人们的新框架和技术。它将研究不同程度的本地化、主题化、参与和可共享性对公众参与的影响，这些事实证据是由来自各种来源的不同形式的数字内容所证实的。它将提供社区和公民团体所需的工具和指导，使他们的倡议在地方和国家层面得到更广泛的参与和支持，并使艺术家、设计师、统计学家、分析师和记者能够以鼓舞人心的、信息丰富的方式与数据进行交流。我们的研究假设如下：1。人们更多地参与通过本地化（与特定地理或地缘政治领域相关的数据）和topicalisation（关于特定实体、主题或事件的数据）与他们相关的数据。当所述数据通过互动性和参与性方法提供，有助于建立连贯的叙述时，人们会更多地参与数据，更好地理解数据。如果将可共享性内置到数据的表示中，那么数据更有可能被共享，从而接触到更多的人。我们将测试这些假设，并提出一个由模型、算法、工具和指南支持的数据体验框架，帮助个人和团体从数据中创建定制的、参与性的内容（例如，艺术、游戏和故事）。框架设计将以三个主要领域的实践主导研究为依据：(i)寻找和丰富数据；（ii）生成内容；（iii）分享和参与内容。它将借鉴几个学科的方法：数据和内容管理；机器学习;人机数据交互；游戏设计和游戏化；众包;网络社区;社会和政治科学；创意写作;还有视觉艺术。该研究将在四种情况下进行原型展示：(i)在ODI的“数据即文化”项目中，与艺术家、设计师和开放数据活动家合作；（ii）作为ODI运营的Datapolis项目的一部分，该项目着眼于在游戏设计师和当地社区的支持下使用游戏界面来揭开数据的神秘面纱；（iii）与BBC、Full Fact和Parliament Digital Service一起进行事实核查和新闻展示；（iv）通过数据马拉松和我们自己的数据故事挑战，由WSI和ODI运营，以及诸如Bath:Hacked和ODCamp UK等计划，这些计划将使用创造性的写作技巧，从与其他媒体丰富的开放数据中构建与社区相关的数据叙事。我们的提案与EPSRC的呼吁非常一致，在不同程度上解决了几个主题。大部分研究都集中在支持和促进内容创作上。具体来说，我们着眼于提供智能工具，使人们更容易创建数据体验。受益者包括艺术家、讲故事的人（如记者或分析师）、游戏制作者，以及那些希望利用艺术、游戏和叙事模式来提高其工作知名度的社区和民间社会团体。该研究将包括利用数据通过艺术、游戏和虚拟现实环境创造身临其境的体验，这些环境是由结构化数据和其他形式的数字内容构建而成的。最终，这些了解数据并与之互动的新颖方式，与个人背景相关，并以创造性和创新性的方式呈现，将为公众提供信息和教育，从而导致更可持续的数字生态系统，以及更包容的社会。

In the post-truth society we live in, experts must find novel ways to bring hard, factual data to citizens. Data must entertain as well as inform, and excite as well as educate. It must be built with sharing through social channels in mind and become part of our everyday activities and interactions with others. Data Stories will look at novel frameworks and technologies for bringing data to people through art, games, and storytelling. It will examine the impact that varying levels of localisation, topicalisation, participation, and shareability have on the engagement of the general public with factual evidence substantiated by different forms of digital content derived and repurposed from a variety of sources. It will deliver the tools and guidance that community and civic groups need to achieve broader participation and support for their initiatives at local and national level, and empower artists, designers, statisticians, analysts, and journalists to communicate with data in inspiring, informative ways.Our research hypotheses are as follows:1. People engage more with data that is made relevant to them by localisation (data related to a specific geographic or geopolitical area of interest) and topicalisation (data about a particular entity, theme, or event).2. People engage more with data and understand it better when said data is provided through interactive and participatory methods that help build a coherent narrative.3. Data is more likely to be shared, and therefore reach more people, if shareability is built into its presentation. We will test these hypotheses and propose a data experience framework supported by models, algorithms, tools, and guidelines that help individuals and groups in creating bespoke, participatory content (for example, art, games, and stories, from data). The framework design will be informed by practice-led research in three main areas: (i) finding and enriching data; (ii) generating content; and (iii) sharing and engaging with content. It will draw upon methods from several disciplines: data and content management; machine learning; human data interaction; game design and gamification; crowdsourcing; online communities; social and political sciences; creative writing; and visual arts. The research will be prototypically showcased in four contexts: (i) within the Data as Culture programme at the ODI, working together with artists, designers, and open data activists; (ii) as part of the Datapolis project run by the ODI, which looks at the use of game interfaces to demystify data, with the support of game designers and local communities; (iii) in a fact-checking & journalism showcase together with the BBC, Full Fact, and the Parliament Digital Service; and (iv) via datathons and our own Data Stories challenge, run by WSI and the ODI, alongside initiatives such as Bath:Hacked and ODCamp UK, which will build community-relevant data narratives from open data enriched with other media, using creative writing techniques. Our proposal is well aligned with the EPSRC call, addressing several themes to varying degrees. The majority of the research is focused on enabling and facilitating content creation. Specifically, we look at providing intelligent tools to make it easier for people to create data experiences. The beneficiaries are artists, storytellers (such as journalists or analysts), game makers, and those in community and civil society groups wishing to use the modes of art, games, and narration to raise broader awareness of their work. The research will include using data to create immersive experiences through art, games and virtual reality environments that are built from structured data alongside other forms of digital content. Ultimately, these novel ways to get to know and interact with data, relevant to one's context and presented creatively and innovatively, will inform and educate the public, leading, to more sustainable digital ecosystems, and to a more inclusive society.