Yes, We’re Still Watching: Nightingale and Chill Week
Why we devoted last week to the intersection of data viz and entertainment — and what we learned
From 2011 to 2019, HBO’s Game of Thrones dominated the hearts, minds, and TV screens of millions of viewers across the country. Outside of the occasional military map, there wasn’t much data visualization to be found in the world of Westeros. In our world, however, there was plenty.
It’s a testament to George R.R. Martin, whose A Song of Ice and Fire was adapted for TV, that his sprawling, mythological world lent itself so well to visualization. With hundreds of characters entangled in a complex (and betrayal-filled) political web covering multiple contents, there is basically as much to visualize in the world of Game of Thrones as in our own. Shelly Tan of the Washington Post visualized all 6,887 deaths in the series; For Vox, Kavya Sukumar examined the evolution of color throughout the seven seasons; here on Medium, Jeffrey Lancaster (no, not Lannister) visualized, well, practically everything.
An entire cottage industry of Thrones visualizations emerged online that mirrored the show’s ubiquity and cultural relevance. And while the show itself pulled viewers into its orbit, these visualizations pulled more and more practitioners into the rich intersection between data visualization and entertainment.
This was front of mind for us as we planned “Nightingale and Chill” Week. Our readers are well aware of the impact that data visualization has on the world—but data viz has a similarly powerful role for fictional worlds as well that deserves to be explored, and not just in relation to TV shows. Regardless of medium, visualizations can play an analytical role in untangling complex plots, making sense of characters, and reading into the details of a text. We can also create visualizations to engage with our favorite works of art, and to express our love and appreciation.
This is the spirit of Nightingale and Chill, our week-long exploration of data viz and entertainment: where they overlap and intersect, and how each can deepen our relationship to the other. Over the course of the week, we published eight articles and over 20,000 words. We covered films, books, games, and more. And we came away from the week with an even deeper appreciation for the things we love—and that includes data viz.
Visualize… Data… Action! What Dataviz Has in Common With Documentaries
Both forms of narrative storytelling employ a variety of techniques to inform and entertain. Data designers would be wise to learn from documentary filmmakers and consider how techniques such as the voice-over or reenactments can be applied to their own work. By Joshua Smith.
‘Hell Drivers’ Should Be More Than a Footnote in British Film History. Data Viz Shows Why.
This solar chart illustrates why Hell Drivers is at the center of the British film universe. By Jonathan Dunne and Andie Yam.
Museums Are Going Digital — and Borrowing From Data Viz in the Process
COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how museums operate, forcing many to add to their online collections. But providing online access to a museum’s collections and data is one thing, and developing a curated experience out of it is another. Here’s a survey of how different museums are approaching this task, and how many of them are drawing from data viz. By Maxene Graze.
Mapping “The Phantom Tollbooth”
“Before making a deep dive into various ways to discern the story of The Phantom Tollbooth, I was already in love with the work, but now that I’ve dissected it, the book holds a special kind of nuance.” By Emilia Ruzicka.
Charts: An Overlooked Source of Humor
An interview with the creators of Charty Party, the data visualization card game, on having fun with charts, data literacy and more. By Alyssa Bell.
Mapping My Literature Landscape
“Some of my pre-conceived notions were broken, and I picked up on some very interesting patterns I would’ve never seen if I hadn’t visualized it. Why haven’t I read adventure books since I was a kid? This is what is great about data and why I love it. Data is a mirror you can use to reflect upon yourself and confront your biases. What you do with it is then up to you.” By Nimit Shah.
How Tekken Reinvented My Data Visualization Design Process
Engaging the community around this fighting game challenged one designer to rethink—and ultimately remake—her approach to creating data visualizations. By Jane Zhang.
Viz What You Love
“Self-development, even through fun topics and unorthodox charts, is a journey. However, if you treat yourself to projects that you are passionate about, you’ll find yourself picking up neat tricks, greater speed, and a new zeal that will cross over into your day job in an amazing way.” By Zach Bowders.
DVS Submissions
Nightingale also solicited members of the DVS community to share the visualizations they’ve created of their favorite pieces of entertainment.
Hot 16 Challenge
Mateusz submit a project that visualized the popularity and rapid spread of an action that took place in Poland during lockdown. One rapper encouraged people to support the fundraising to fight COVID-19 by recording a 16-bar song. He nominated a few of his colleagues, and surprisingly, after two weeks, even the president of Poland had recorded … something. Mateusz wrote:
“I created an interactive chart that visualizes the nomination tree and lets people explore how all that progressed. The process? Data was publicly available, so fortunately that was not a problem. The design is very simple and prepared by a colorblind person. The biggest challenge was in handling scroll properly for the desired experience — and it could be improved in the end.”
Read more here.
Posterized
James has made several posters visualizing the connections between characters in movies. He shared his creations for Les Miserables, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, and an overview of Romeo and Juliet.
You can find more of James’s work at his website and at his Instagram, @theposterboy.co.
Thanks for being part of Nightingale and Chill week! It was great fun and more than a little bit inspiring to see all the creativity. Until next time!
