IEEE VIS 2024 Content: Local Climate Data Stories: Data-driven Storytelling to Communicate Effects and Mitigation of Climate Change in a Local Context

Local Climate Data Stories: Data-driven Storytelling to Communicate Effects and Mitigation of Climate Change in a Local Context

Fabian Beck - University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

Lukas Panzer - University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

Marc Redepenning - University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

Room: Esplanade Suites I + II + III

2024-10-14T12:30:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2024-10-14T12:30:00Z
Exemplar figure, described by caption below
The figure illustrates the characteristics of local climate data stories, focusing on how data-driven storytelling can communicate the effects and mitigation of climate change in a localized context. It shows the relationships between climate change, locality, data, and citizens through key characteristics of the scenario. The characteristic emphasize that specific local relevance, limited scope, local context, and participation are linked with the input data. The data stories support stakeholder engagement through familiarity, interest, concern, participation, and ultimately actionable conclusions for citizens.
Abstract

Presenting the effects of and effective countermeasures for climate change is a significant challenge in science communication. Data-driven storytelling and narrative visualization can be part of the solution. However, the communication is limited when restricted to global or cross-regional scales, as climate effects are particular to the location and adaptions need to be local. In this work, we focus on data-driven storytelling that communicates local impacts of climate change. We analyze the adoption of data-driven storytelling by local news media in addressing climate-related topics. Further, we investigate the specific characteristics of the local scenario and present three application examples to showcase potential local data-driven stories. Since these examples are rooted in university teaching, we also discuss educational aspects. Finally, we summarize the interdisciplinary research challenges and opportunities for application associated with data-driven storytelling in a local context.