Data is a powerful thing. When it's used to tell a compelling story, data becomes unforgettable. Stories bring data to life. And, if you have data to analyze, you have a story to tell, whether it’s diagnosing budget issues or explaining zoning laws. • Tell meaningful stories that resonate with citizens, journalists, and analysts • Define the characteristics of a data-driven story • Create different story types based on different analytical methods • Make stories personal and emotional for your audience

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Telling Stories with Open Data
Engage Your Citizens with Data-driven Storytelling

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Webinar Panelists
Kate Bender
SENIOR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ANALYST
Kansas City, MO
Thom Robbins
SENIOR PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER
Socrata, Inc.
Kate Bender is a senior analyst with the Office of Performance
Management, part of the City Manager’s Office in Kansas City,
Missouri. One of her first responsibilities after starting with the
city in 2007 was to analyze 311 data, which became the
foundation for the development of the Office of Performance
Management in 2009. In the 4 years since, the Office of
Performance Management has developed a new framework for
analysis and reporting that integrates other data sources such as
citizen survey data and department performance indicators and
reports out to the public via KCStat.
As Socrata’s chief product marketer, Thom focuses on helping
people understand what Open Data can do for them. He is a
guiding force in demonstrating the value of Open Data, the
versatility of the Socrata platform, and how public sector
organizations can leverage data technology to better engage
constituents.
A prolific business writer, Thom helps bridge the gap between the
technical needs of developers and the aspirational desires of
forward-thinking government leaders. He has authored many
books and articles, including, “If Abraham Lincoln Were a CMO.”

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An Example Story
Does This Resonate?
Levy and Bond Information
Seattle voters have a long history of support for our
students over the years, approving funding for day-to-
day operations as well as capital projects.

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An Example Story
Is This a Better Start?
Levy Technology $ / Student
$6,000
$5,000
$4,000
$3,000
$2,000
$1,000
$
SEATTLE
2010
SEATTLE
2013
LAKE WASHINGTON
2014
BELLEVUE
2014
$749.35
$1,062.86
$3,273.80
$5,449.31

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Welcome
What’s The Power of a Story?
“People are more interested in a great story than
in the storyteller. If you want to get your point
across, you need to learn how to condense your
data into a good story.”

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The Power of Story Telling
Good Stories Compel People to Change
The Way We Feel
Stories demand an
emotional investment
The Way We Act
Stories bring energy
to the message
The Way We Think
Stories pique
and hold interest
The Way We Behave
Stories cause
us to take action

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Story Rule #1
Content
(Data) is king

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Story Rule #2
Collaboration
is Queen

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Lessons from the Private Sector
The Value of Story Telling
 Emotional branding is a progressive marketing strategy used that
has been shown to drive revenue and increase customer retention.
 How a person feels about your brand typically determines whether
they buy your product.
 A brand is a matter of perception. When you tell a story that embodies
human challenges, you create an experience that resonates with your
customers.

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Storytelling Characteristics
Mixture of Marketing, Branding, & Fiction Writing
1. Speak Truthfully – Honesty, transparency an consistency are vital parts of any story and all stories
should be rooted in in your citizens reality.
2. Infuse personalities into stories – Boring stories won’t attract and retain people, but stories
brimming with personality will.
3. Create characters you’re your citizens will root for – Create characters that enable your audience
to become emotionally connected and want to follow them
4. Include a beginning, middle and end – Fictional stories follow a structure that includes a beginning,
middle and end. Your data stories should follow a similar structure.
5. Don’t give it all away – Make sure your data stories are page turners and focus on leaving your
citizens wanting more.

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Welcome to the New Digital
Questions to Ask as You Build a Story
What is the story and narrative behind everything you do?
 How can you get to that story that part of your citizens DNA instead of just the facts
How do you connect with people in the language they understand?
 How do you create the stories that cause people to change behavior or perceptions
What about the stories your citizens are already telling?
 How do you listen and and include them?
How much control can you realistically have?
 How can you contribute and shape the story with your own information?
Q:
Q:
Q:
Q:

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Time
Methods
Classifying Data Stories
4 Dimensions of Stories with Data & Analytics
Focus
Depth

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Classifying Data Stories
Time-based Stories
Analytics stories about the past, present,
or future
Past
 Most common type of analytical reporting is about the past
(it’s reporting)
Present
 Most involve a survey and stories of what people
are currently doing
Future
 Predictive model based on the past

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Classifying Data Stories
Focus-based Stories
Telling a “What”, “Why” or “How” to address
the issue in the story
What stories
 Like reporting – they simply tell what happened
Why stories
 Go into underlying factors that caused the outcome
How to address the issues
 Focus on ways to improve the situation identified in the What and
Why stories

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Classifying Data Stories
Depth-based Stories
“CSI” Stories
 Relatively small ad-hoc investigation to find out why something
sub-optimal is happening
Eureka Stories
 Long, analytical-driven searches for a solution to a problem
 Tend be long, important and expensive to getting stakeholder
buy-in is vital

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Classifying Data Stories
Methods-based Stories
Different types of stories based on the analytical
methods used
Correlation story
 Relationship among variables rose or fell at the same time
Causation story
 One variable caused the other

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Thank You!
Find Us!
Socrata.com
Follow Us!
@Socrata
Friend Us!
facebook.com/socrata
Watch Us!
http://www.youtube.com/user/socratavideos

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LEVEL OF DATA MATURITY
 Consumer-style web &
mobile interfaces
 Accessible storytelling
tools for Publishers
 Open Performance and
fact-based decision
making
 Robust, high-
performance data APIs
and developer
resources
 Automated, real-time
data publishing
 Turnkey, UX optimized
apps for high-value data
LEVEL 4
Data as
a Platform
 Automatic syndication to
the Consumer Web
 Built-in Apps Ecosystem
 Data for analytics and
predictive modeling
 Intra-government data
federation
 Open connectors to
enterprise systems
 Domain-specific peer
benchmarking
 Location awareness and
mobile by default
 Crowdsourcing data and
insight
 Sensor-based streaming
data and apps
 Data science-enabled
semantic discovery
across the network
LEVEL 5
The Open
Data Network
 Scattered spreadsheets
and PDFs online
 Legacy custom
web apps
LEVEL 1
Pre Open Data Silos
 Basic catalog of
downloadable files
(CSV, XLS, SHP, ZIP,
PDF)
 Metadata/Catalog APIs
LEVEL 2
The Catalog Phase
 IT resource-intensive
development project
 Manual data publishing
 Limited interactivity with
basic data tables, and
visualizations
 Social sharing
LEVEL 3
Basic Interactive Experience
Our Approach to Customer Value
Products Designed to Support Program Maturity