Narrating Networks: Exploring the Affordances of Networks as Storytelling Devices in Journalism

Abstract

Networks have become the de facto diagram of the Big Data age (try searching Google Images for [big data AND visualisation] and see). The concept of networks has become central to many fields of human inquiry and is said to revolutionise everything from medicine to markets to military intelligence. While the mathematical and analytical capabilities of networks have been extensively studied over the years, in this article we argue that the storytelling affordances of networks have been comparatively neglected. In order to address this we use multimodal analysis to examine the stories that networks evoke in a series of journalism articles. We develop a protocol by means of which narrative meanings can be construed from network imagery and the context in which it is embedded, and discuss five different kinds of narrative readings of networks, illustrated with analyses of examples from journalism. Finally, to support further research in this area, we discuss methodological issues that we encountered and suggest directions for future study to advance and broaden research around this defining aspect of visual culture after the digital turn.

The Nexus between Design and Policy: Strong, Weak, and Non-Design Spaces in Policy Formulation

“…interests of citizens detected through digital tools) could help government become more transparent (Gray 2016), and those who believe that the current emphasis could exceed in underlining a technocratic approach where better information alone cannot determine positive transformation (that should rather be cultural, organizational, human, and economical) (United Nations 2014). In this debatestill young in design studieswe more often read about operational tools used to make sense and identify patterns in large amounts of data, and to build more accountable political arguments (Bounegru et al 2016;Venturini et al 2015); seldom has the debate crossed disciplinary domains (politics, policy and design) to question the political implications of data design in policy design. Consequently, much remains to be investigated about the role and capacities of design to help policy formulation integrate technocratic tools and approaches (i.e.…”

The datafied society, studying culture through data

“…The results of this particular mapping indicate how big publishers have taken over an issue space once dominated by activists by means of combining open access with publicizing hashtags (Gray et al 2016). A final operationalization is reminiscent of the unflattening of hyperlink networks: ties among actors using hashtags can be described based also on directionality and rhythm.…”

“…The analytical capabilities of graph mathematics have been written into software programs that multiply the visual representation and exploration of graph properties and extend them outside of expert circles (Pousman, Stasko & Mateas 2007). This proliferation of visual representations of networks through digital media shifts focus from the analytic capabilities of networks and raises questions about how such networks may be read narratively (Bounegru, Venturini, Gray & Jacomy 2016). …”

“…Rather, by taking inspiration from studies of the storytelling potential of data visualizations more generally (as for example in Segel & Heer 2010), we aim to explore the narrative affordances of visual representations of networks. Elsewhere we develop the link between the mathematical properties of networks and the stories they evoke through an analysis of the use of network graphs in a series of journalism projects (Bounegru, Venturini, Gray & Jacomy 2016).…”

Visual Network Exploration for Data Journalists

“…Despite longstanding interest, the use of networks in journalism remains comparatively marginal (cf. Bounegru et al, 2016 for an overview of the emerging uses of networks in journalism). The reasons are not difficult to imagine.…”