Data Stories: The Benefits and Opportunities of Narrative Metadata in Deciphering and Demystifying Data Collection and Analysis

Data are often hard to access and difficult to comprehend, even by experts, yet the format of storytelling can help in offering diverse audiences insights into the research process and conclusions. As many data providers have learned by experience, making raw data available on the Internet- in itself a substantial task- is often insufficient for many users who lack the ability or patience to access or understand the data. The proposed Data Stories framework offers an opportunity to decipher and demystify the communication of scientific research in general and data in particular through a form of narrative metadata that contextualize the 'Who' (providing human interest, education and training background, and career opportunities information), 'What' (focusing on discipline, field of study, research questions, and significance), 'Where' (geographic location(s), logistics involved in getting there, and elevation or depth), 'When' (time(s) of day, year data collected, and temporal scale data focus on), 'How' (what tools, technology, mathematics, and statistics are used to collect, archive, and analyze data) and 'Why' (why is the data important intellectually as well as in the broader, societal context) of data collection and analysis. This paper will examine research on the benefits of narrative storytelling in communicating science activities, provide examples of existing data stories, and propose a comprehensive effort to attach data stories to all major International Year research projects.