The Collaborative

Social Impact Practicum

PSYC 81.09: Storytelling with Data

Today's plan

  1. Meet our social impact practicum partner
  2. Learn about The Collaborative and their mission
  3. Explore the dataset they have shared with us
  4. Discuss ethical considerations for working with real-world data
  5. Brainstorm story ideas in groups

About The Collaborative

The Collaborative (thecollaborative.us) is a community organization focused on social impact in the Upper Valley region.

  • They work on issues at the intersection of community well-being, equity, and data-driven decision making
  • They have partnered with our class to give you the experience of working with real data for a real audience
  • Your work has the potential to inform how they communicate their impact

The dataset

The Collaborative has shared a dataset with us that includes information about their programs, participants, and outcomes.

Key questions the data could help answer:

  • What impact are their programs having on the community?
  • Who is being served, and who might be underserved?
  • How can their story be told more effectively with data?

We will explore the specifics of the dataset together in class.

Why this matters

This is not a toy exercise — the data is real, the people are real, and the stakes are real.

  • Impact: Your analysis could shape how The Collaborative communicates with funders, partners, and the community
  • Responsibility: Real data about real people demands careful, ethical treatment
  • Practice: This is what applied data storytelling looks like outside the classroom

Discussion: what stories could this data tell?

What stories could this data tell? What would be most impactful?

Think about:

  • Who is the audience for the story? (funders, community members, policymakers)
  • What message would be most useful to The Collaborative?
  • What would surprise people or change their understanding?

Discussion: ethical considerations

What ethical considerations should we think about when working with this data?

Consider:

  • Privacy — could individuals be identified from the data?
  • Representation — are we telling the story of the community or about the community?
  • Framing — how do our choices about visualization and narrative shape perception?
  • Consent — what did participants agree to when their data was collected?

Brainstorming time

  1. Form groups of 2-4 people (or plan to work solo)
  2. Discuss approaches — what angle interests your group?
  3. Start sketching ideas — what data would you focus on? What visualizations?
  4. Identify what you need — what questions do you have about the dataset?

You do not need to commit to an idea today. Explore freely.

What's coming this week

  • Thursday: Data science demo — tools and techniques for exploring the dataset
  • Friday: Hackathon + Assignment 4 release
  • Start thinking about the story you want to tell

Assignment 4 preview

Tell a "real" story about data using The Collaborative's dataset or another real dataset.

  • Create a notebook-based data story with narrative, code, and visualizations
  • Ground your story in real data about real issues
  • More details on Friday — for now, start brainstorming!

See you Thursday!

Questions? Want to chat more?

📧 Email me
💬 Join our Slack
💁 Come to office hours
  • Thursday X-hour: Python data science stack demo