Assignment 2: Data Story Remix
Released: Friday, April 10 | Due: Monday, April 13
Overview
For this assignment, you'll be telling a data-driven story. Whereas Assignment 1's topic and format were entirely open, this week's story must be data-driven. You will piece together existing statistics, data visualizations, and/or figures — optionally supplemented by additional results or figures you create — to tell a compelling narrative that answers a specific question.
Some formats your story might take:
- A re-telling of an existing article or blog post from a new perspective or with a new interpretation
- Stitching together a narrative that synthesizes data, results, and figures from multiple existing sources
- A narrated news report of a phenomenon or event
- An entirely made-up study about a real or imaginary scenario (e.g., a census report for an extraterrestrial species)
- Any other format that effectively tells a story about data
Your story should:
- Connect with people. Your target audience is your Spring 2026 Storytelling with Data class.
- Be brief. Maximum 5 minutes. (No minimum.)
- Be original. You can remix existing content, but take it in a new direction.
- Answer a question. Your story should be focused on answering or exploring a specific question.
Story Structure
Consider using the Story Spine format (from Khan Academy / Pixar) adapted for data stories:
- Once upon a time: provide relevant background and motivation. Introduce your question.
- Every day: overview what is already known about your question.
- Until one day: explain why what is already known isn't sufficient, or describe the problem.
- Because of this / that: introduce your analyses, explain what each means and what new questions arise.
- Until finally: synthesize an interpretation. Answer your question (or say what you've learned).
- And ever since then: explain implications for related questions and life in general.
- Moral of the story: explain why the audience should care.
Deliverables
1. Narrative Outline
Briefly outline your story: the hook, key evidence/plot points, and conclusion.
2. Narrative "Sketch"
Represent your narrative visually using data figures. Draw on principles of representing data and designing effective figures. Choose your figures carefully — they should bolster specific key elements of your narrative. Figures can be from existing sources, computer-generated, or hand-drawn.
3. Written Narrative
Write out your story in roughly one page. Include all major plot points and tell the story compellingly.
4. Tell Your Story (Video)
Create a video (up to 5 minutes) telling your story. Display relevant text or visual aids while narrating. Include both visual representations of data and a spoken narrative.
5. Reflections
- What went well? Which parts are you most happy with?
- What did you have trouble with?
- How did this compare to Assignment 1? Were there aspects of last week's process you carried over?
- What feedback would be most helpful to you?
Submission
Upload your video to YouTube and submit via the course GitHub repository. Include your outline, written narrative, visual sketch, video link, and reflections.