One Size Does NOT Fit All:Customizing Data Presentation to Audience Needs

Evonne Young, Associate Director, Web Development and ProductionKaiser Family Foundationevonney@kff.org| kff.org | @jumpinjavagrrl

“Visualization is a medium: a way to explore, present, and express meaning in data.”

-Nathan Yau

USA Today, Daily Snapshot

The Refugee Project (http://www.therefugeeproject.org/)

• Provide Analysis.• Allow for Quantitative

Insights.• Evoke Emotions.• Look Pretty

Answer: Visualizations can be ALL of those things, but it depends on your goal and audience.

Image: EagerEyes.org, “VisWeek Preview: Changing the World with Visualization (Panel)” http://eagereyes.org/blog/2009/visweek-changing-the-world-with-visualization-panel (Accessed: 10/07/2014)

What Should A Visualization Do?

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues…

We serve as a non-partisan source of facts, analysis and journalism.

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Who We Are

Policy and Decision Makers, Journalists

• Know more than a casual user.

• Need info quickly for research, presentation, or news story.

Who Is Our Audience? What Do They Want to Know?

Analysts• Better and deeper

understanding of information and data than Policy Folks and Journalists.

• Willing to sift, explore.

Casual Users• Basic number literacy.

Understand trends and key numbers.

• Consumer-focused questions.

Typical Method of Revealing Information

New Method: Why Visualization Can Be More Fun

1. What data do you have? You have the data, right?

2. What do you want to show? What does your audience want to know? (They are not necessarily the same thing.)

3. Translate: What visualization method is best for the point you are trying to make and for your audience to understand? (Scatterplot = Jackson Pollack to a casual user)

4. What do you see and does it make sense? (Remember: your mission is to communicate and clarify, not to be cool.)

5. Define success for your organization. ( Page views? Media Mentions? Shares? Embeds? Tweets?)

Source: Nathan Yau, Data Points: Visualization That Means Something

5 Questions To Ask When Creating a Visualization

Calculators

What Has Kaiser Used?

Infographics

Animated Videos

Maps

Interactives Flowcharts

Subsidy Calculatorhttp://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/

Illustrates health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in new health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the ACA.

Audience: All audiences + Spanish speakers.

Need filled? Answers the questions, “Am I eligible for subsidies? How much will health insurance cost?”

Data Viz Method: Calculator. Familiar UI lets users enter different income levels, ages, and family sizes to get an estimate of their eligibility for subsidies and how much they could spend on health insurance.

State Health Facts Onlinehttp://kff.org/statedata/

State Health Facts provides data on more than 800 health care, demographic, and health insurance coverage-related indicators for all 50 states.

Audience: All, Analysts

Need filled? Answers questions like, • Which states have expanded Medicaid?• What’s the U.S poverty rate by

race/ethnicity?• What % of Texas’s population has

employer-based coverage?

Data Viz Method: Comprehensive data sets, maps. Encourages exploration.

U.S. Global Health Budget Trackerhttp://kff.org/interactive/budget-tracker/landing/

Provides regularly updated info on U.S. government funding for global health. Tool allows users to track funding levels throughout the appropriations process and sort funding by disease/condition/ population, agency, fiscal year, or initiative.

Audience: Analysts and Researchers who track donor funding and U.S. funding for global health.(narrow)

Need filled? Before this tool, funding data was not available in one place. More engaging and understandable than a six-page spreadsheet.

Data Viz Method: Google Docs + custom javascript chartbuilder. Encourages exploration.

Health Tracking Poll: The Public’s Views on the ACAhttp://kff.org/interactive/health-tracking-poll-exploring-the-publics-views-on-the-affordable-care-act-aca/

Allows users to examine how specific groups feel about the ACA and how those opinions have or have not changed over time.

Audience: Journalists, Bloggers, Polling Team.

Need filled? Media can embed to illustrate their news pieces; Polling team uses to answer questions and for trend analysis.

Data Viz Method: Spreadsheet + custom javascript.

Visualizing Health Policyhttp://kff.org/tag/jama/

A monthly infographic series produced in partnership with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Audience: Policy and Decision Makers, Journalists, Medical Community.

Need filled? Delivers visual pop + key information to a medical journal audience.

Data Viz Method: Infographic

Medicare Income and Assetshttp://kff.org/interactive/visualizing-income-and-assets-among-medicare-beneficiaries-now-and-in-the-future/

Tool lets users explore the income, savings and home equity of people on Medicare in 2013, and in 2030 (in 2013 inflation adjusted dollars).

Audience: Journalists, Decision and Policy Makers.

Need filled? Provides context for ongoing policy discussions about Medicare spending and the federal budget; highlights disparities among various populations.

Data Viz Method: Data sets, interactive charts. Encourages exploration.

Social Media Graphics

People are more likely to click on Twitter and Facebooks posts that feature images.

Audience: All Audiences

Need Filled? Visually interesting, quick facts for our audience.

Data Viz Method: Chart or key facts created by graphic designer or in Powerpoint.