9 Storytelling through Words and Pictures
TL;DR: watch tv, finish Big Idea #2
readings (links) & lectures ～ assignments due ～ live session agenda
Figure 27: 1985. Amazing Stories, The Mission (S1 E5) Watch on NBC
This week we’ll be discussing storytelling techniques from the arts and humanities, namely television and movie screenplays. We’ll discuss the benefits and hazards of adopting a storytelling approach to data science. Beyond the implications for biased and unbiased representations of the truth, many students find the practical tips described in Brian McDonald’s Invisible Ink (2010) to be very helpful for improving their writing in general. Huff (1954k) will help remind you of the pitfalls of persuasiveness when we are intending to write nonfiction.
Spoiler alert alert: If you’ve never watched Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, you may want to watch the episode titled “The Mission” before reading McDonald. He gives the ending away in a critique of the episode’s story structure. Similarly to Burton’s “kite” from week 5, once you know about the ending you’ll never be able to experience the storytelling “for the first time”!
Readings
Lectures
- ↓ 9.1 Introduction to the Week
- ↓ 9.2 Conveying Findings
- ↓ 9.3 Telling a Good Story
- ↓ 9.4 Insights From Pixar
- ↓ 9.5 Wrap-Up
9.1 Introduction to the Week ↑
| Players | Slug | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| ν θ | NA | NA |
9.2 Conveying Findings ↑
| Players | Slug | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| κ σ | NA | NA |
9.3 Telling a Good Story ↑
| Players | Slug | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| ω κ | NA | NA |
9.4 Insights From Pixar ↑
| Players | Slug | Excerpt |
|---|---|---|
| μ υ | NA | NA |
Bibliography
McDonald, Brian. 2010. Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories That Resonate. Reprint edition. Seattle: Libertary Company. https://smile.amazon.com/Invisible-Ink-Practical-Building-Resonate/dp/0984178627.
Huff, Darrell. 1954k. How to Lie with Statistics. Reissue edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. https://smile.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728.
Huff, Darrell. 1954a. “Chapter 1 the Sample with the Built-in Bias.” In How to Lie with Statistics, 13–28. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huff, Darrell. 1954c. “Chapter 2 the Well-Chosen Average.” In How to Lie with Statistics, 29–38. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huff, Darrell. 1954d. “Chapter 3 the Little Figures That Are Not There.” In How to Lie with Statistics, 39–54. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huff, Darrell. 1954e. “Chapter 4 Much Ado About Practically Nothing.” In How to Lie with Statistics, 55–61. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.