Story Rules Logo

email LinkedIn Twitter Youtube
  • WHY
    • You need the power of storytelling on your side
  • WHO
    • I can help you unlock the power of storytelling
  • WHAT
    • Through comprehensive learning offerings
  • HOW
    • A holistic and customised approach that Clients love
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • E-books
    • Videos
    • Newsletters
  • PODCAST
  • SOTD

#SOTD 26: Covid's back

21 March 2022

You know it by now. Omicron has an evil cousin (BA.2) which has several countries seeing a surge in cases.

​

How bad is the situation exactly? Which countries are worst hit? Are some of them seeing a And should we be worried?

​

Here's a clear and lucid data story by John Burn-Murdoch of the Financial Times.

​

John starts with the big picture:


And then answers it with infection data split by variant (using a line chart clearly demarcated by variant):​


Note that he could have given this split in the earlier chart itself... but he uses the following principles in the second tweet:​

- Start with the Big picture (only) first; give the details later

- Control the release of information

- Pique audience curiosity by explicitly stating the question before answering it

​

Further, throughout the thread, John uses the 6W1H framework (the seven questions of a data story - What happened, How much, When, Where, Why, Why not and What next):

- What happened: Covid cases spiking again

- How much: Quite severe in some countries, not so much (yet) in others

- When: First half of March-22

- Where: This is where the thread spends most of its time. There are significant spikes seen in Austria, Switzerland, Germany; increasing trend also seen in Greece, France, UK, Italy, Belgium; no visible spike yet in US, Spain; and countries like Denmark and Netherlands are already descending from their peaks


- Why not (what factors are ensuring the cases and hospitalisations are not much worse than they are): Since most of the population is vaccinated, it's surmised that BA.2 won't be as lethal as previous variants.- Why: The Omicron BA.2 Variant ("BA.2’s transmissibility advantage over BA.1 is driving the resurgence")

- What next: A very nuanced position taken on this. For instance take this tweet:


Essentially, the net takeaway is: While the new Covid variant is far less lethal than the original variants, it is more dangerous than the typical common cold. So exercise caution.​

​

Finally, every chart in the thread follows several key data-storytelling principles:

  • It has a clear message on top
  • Makes extensive use of the simple line graph to make its points.
  • Uses simple annotation to make readability clearer (no inconveniently placed legends)
  • The key message is visually highlighted and unimportant elements pushed to the background using the colour grey

​

Great case-study in telling a clear data story.

#SOTD 26

#SOTD 60: Share your own stories (and be vulnerable)
21 March 2022
WHY

You need the power of storytelling on your side

WHO

I can help you unlock the power of storytelling

WHAT

Through comprehensive learning offerings

HOW

And a holistic and customised approach that Clients love

RESOURCES

E-Books

Videos

Newsletters

CONTACT