Before we move on, to help embed the understanding of data familiarization, visual analysis and the difference between finding stories and telling stories, let's work through a basic example.
Take the following sample table of data. The subject matter is the Olympic games and specifically the total medals won by the top eight participating nations over five recent events. The selection of the top eight is based on them being the top ranked countries at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Suppose you were briefed to unearth some key stories around Olympics medal winning trends in recent years, how would you go about it?
Let's start by just scanning the data with our eyes to find anything that stands out.
The main data issue appears to be that the Russian Federation medals total for 1992 was actually when it was known as the Soviet Union. It is noticeably higher than for all the other Olympic events, due to the contributions of additional member states that...