The Gamma: Towards open and transparent data-driven storytelling
Tomas Petricek, Alan Turing Institute
@tomaspetricek | thegamma.net | tomasp.net
Welcome to the post-fact world
Technology democratized opinions
Can it also democratize facts?
Data-driven storytelling
Open data-driven storytelling
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Can the result be reproduced?
Reinhart–Rogoff, Growth in a Time of Debt -
Is the visualization misleading?
One medal per boat or 8 medals per boat?
The Gamma
DEMO: Visualizing Olympic medalists
Data-driven article is just a program!
- We first see the resulting story
- Readers can modify the parameters
- Power users can verify the code
Article as a program #1
Automatically allowing readers
to modify parameters
DEMO: Choosing disciplines for a timeline
Article as a program #2
Type providers for simplifying
access to open government data
DEMO: Exploring World Bank data
Article as a program #3
Improving usability of languages
by learning from Excel
DEMO: Pivot type provider
Article as a program
is a powerful paradigm
The Gamma open-source library
- JavaScript Web component anyone can use
- Data source Service anyone can write
- Sample Data sources and visualizations
Interested in collaboration!
- Journalists interested in transparency
- Exposing UK open government data
- Automagic linking and cleaning of data