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

在我们所生活的后真相社会中，专家必须找到新颖的方法，将确凿的事实数据带给公民。数据必须娱乐和提供信息，激励和教育。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。数据故事将着眼于通过艺术，游戏和讲故事将数据带给人们的新颖框架和技术。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，并通过从各种来源获得和重新利用的不同形式的数字内容证实事实证据。它将提供社区和公民团体需要的工具和指导，以实现更广泛的参与和支持他们在地方和国家层面的倡议，并授权艺术家，设计师，统计学家，分析师和记者以鼓舞人心的方式与数据进行交流，提供信息。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感兴趣区域相关的数据）和主题化（关于特定实体，主题或事件的数据）与他们相关的数据。当所述数据通过有助于建立连贯叙述的互动和参与性方法提供时，人们更多地参与数据并更好地理解数据。如果数据的呈现方式具有可共享性，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，帮助个人和团体创建定制的参与性内容（例如，来自数据的艺术、游戏和故事）。框架设计将参考三个主要领域以实践为导向的研究：㈠寻找和丰富数据; ㈡生成内容; ㈢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;人类数据交互;游戏设计和游戏化;众包;在线社区;社会和政治科学;创意写作;和视觉艺术。该研究将在四个背景下进行原型展示：（i）在ODI的数据文化计划中，与艺术家，设计师和开放数据活动家合作;（ii）作为ODI运行的数据城项目的一部分，该项目在游戏设计师和当地社区的支持下，着眼于使用游戏界面来消除数据的神秘性。（iii）与BBC，Full Fact和Parliament Digital Service一起进行事实检查和新闻展示;以及（iv）通过由WSI和ODI运行的数据马拉松和我们自己的数据故事挑战，以及巴斯等倡议：Hacked和ODCamp UK，将使用创意写作技术，从丰富的其他媒体开放数据中构建与社区相关的数据叙述。我们的建议与EPSRC的呼吁非常一致，在不同程度上涉及几个主题。大多数研究都集中在支持和促进内容创建上。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。受益者是艺术家、故事讲述者（如记者或分析师）、游戏制作者以及那些希望使用艺术、游戏和叙事模式来提高人们对其工作的认识的社区和民间社会团体。该研究将包括使用数据通过艺术，游戏和虚拟现实环境创建沉浸式体验，这些环境是由结构化数据以及其他形式的数字内容构建的。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，将告知和教育公众，从而导致更可持续的数字生态系统和更具包容性的社会。

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.