Introduction

At some point in the sport analytics process we share our findings with an audience.

Wolfgang Iser[1] suggested that
when we produce a story to share we should think carefully about how we construct the story and imagine the recipients of the story. He notes that any story has “a network of response-inviting structures” that enable the reader or the listener “to grasp the text”.

The availability of video platforms has extended the reach of such stories.

More recently, Maria Popova[2] has looked at the impact digital platforms have had on the way data are shared. She notes that at “the intersection of art and algorithm”:

Ultimately, data visualization is more than complex software or the prettying up of spreadsheets. It’s not innovation for the sake of innovation. It’s about the most ancient of social rituals: storytelling. It’s about telling the story locked in the data differently, more engagingly, in a way that draws us in, makes our eyes open a little wider and our jaw drop ever so slightly. And as we process it, it can sometimes change our perspective altogether.

References

  1. Iser, Wolfgang (1976). The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press.
  2. Popova, Maria (12 August 2009). “Data Visualization: Stories for the Information Age”. http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2009/id20090811_137179.htm. Retrieved 27 February 2016.