The designer Stefan Sagmeister has a message for those who would presume to call themselves a “storyteller” when they’re not really: “No, fuckhead, you’re not a storyteller.” I agree, except for one word: yet. Many could become one.
Some of us in the data industry can identify. We’ve shouted something like this at our monitors as we’ve read about supposed “big data.” No, fuckhead, it’s just data! Now comes data storytelling, and we find ourselves shouting again.
Another annoyance is the idea that stories occur only in certain media. Sagmeister makes that mistake. “People who actually tell stories,” he says, “meaning people who write novels and make feature films…”
No, Sag, a story is just a structure.… Read the rest “No, you’re not a data storyteller yet”