The Reviz Project: Why & How

“One dataset. Three views. One conversation with multiple talking points.

“This should be our communal goal with all data visualization. Humans are social creatures. We learn through conversations. Our opinions sway and change with the ebb and flow of these conversations. Imagine being able to have this conversation with data. We needn't be content with one static chart or one interactive dashboard; we should start with a chart that asks a question and evokes a response.”
- Andy Cotgreave, October 2014
(Why a Chart Should Start, Not End, a Conversation) 

Why and How – for me, answering these questions has brought about the moments where things changed and perspective shifted. Focusing on these questions has brought about some of my most impactful work and has truly changed the way I see the world in the day-to-day.

Why?
Why do we get out of bed in the morning? Why do we do what we do? Why does it matter? It has become apparent to me that the answer to this questions is that we are called to have an impact. Anyone can do it, but few take the opportunity to attempt to change the world. The more I interact with it and the more time I see it, the more I begin to think that telling stories with data truly can change the world.
The story is the why.

How?
How do we tell the stories? How do we make an impact? How do we grow ourselves and the community? Nothing gets done without intention and we don’t grow ourselves or the community by standing still. Therefore, we must be compelled to take on new challenges and be willing to fail in order to push the ball forward.

As we begin this new year I want to be more intentional about creating opportunities to have an impact by telling stories. I want to grow many ways this year, but professionally, storytelling with data is going to be my focus and to that end, I join with Alex Duke and Matt Chambers to announce the Reviz Project.

The Reviz Project
The quote from Andy Cotgreave above comes from a series of events where three different people took the same data set and told three different stories through data visualizations. The data had been seen thousands of times, but by looking at it with a different perspective it was turned on its head and the stories told had a tremendous impact in three unique ways.

The Reviz Project seeks to do the same thing - take a public data set, and have its story told in at least three different ways. The goal is to change the way we look at the world and the way we look at data, and to see the humanity in both. It is not our intent for us to be the only ones involved in this project, rather we invite the community to join with us and tell their own story.

The Details
Each month one of the three of us will take the lead (the leader).
In the first week of the month, the leader will find a publicly available data source.
In the second week of the month, the lead creates a viz that tells a story & publishes it to Tableau Public.
In the third week of the month, the other two (the follow-ups) will take that same data set and create new visualizations that tell new stories. Also, at the end of the third week the data will be posted on the Reviz Project blog site.
In the fourth week of the month, the community will have an opportunity to take that data set and tell their own story. Those completing their viz by the end of the fourth week can fill out a form and we will host their viz on the Reviz Project Community page.
Blogging about the vizzes is not mandatory, but it is encouraged.
The follow-ups and the community are allowed to enhance the data with complementary data sources, but the original data source should remain the primary focus of any visualization.
The three of us are committing to doing this for at least three months.

We’re already off and running right now! Matt Chambers is taking the lead in this first month of January. Stay tuned to this blog or follow Matt, Alex, or me on Twitter to hear about the steps as they happen each month. Also, please use the hashtag #RevizProjecton Twitter.

This is an exciting opportunity for all of us that we’ve been looking forward to taking on for a few months now. We look forward to your support and hope you’ll decide to get involved. Who knows - you might just tell a story that changes the world.

Nelson Davis