2023
QUIZ: Do you feel what others feel?
Entry type: Single project
Country/area: Sweden
Publishing organisation: Just myself, Karthik Muthuswamy – journalism student.
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 2022-08-13
Language: English
Authors: Karthik Muthuswamy
I used an illustration from a friend at the time and a collegue now – Gunilla Hagström
Biography:
Karthik Muthuswamy is a freelance data journalist and a software developer based in Stockholm. He is a lifelong learner and has a passion for writing. After working in tech for a decade, he recently studied for a Master’s in Data journalism to explore the possibilities of using technology in storytelling.
He now creates interactive visual stories using his skills in storytelling and technology.
Project description:
This story explains what people worldwide have been feeling in 2021, based on Gallup’s World Happiness Report. In addition, it also lets people explore further.
I used a quiz, a gamification technique, to challenge the readers to compare themself with others. I personalised the quiz using the registrational interactivity technique by inviting the users to choose & compare with others in their country.
Following the quiz, I used a scrorytelling to tell the story. I highlighted several findings from the survey while guiding the users on how they can explore more – which they could at the end of the story.
Impact reached:
It was a part of a project for the MA data journalism course i was studying.
It was my first article as a journalist that got attention on the internet. I haven’t been able to **measure** the project’s impact on the community – but it inspired me to do more things for data jounralism.
Fast forward to now, i’m currently building a data jounralism startup in Sweden which will be launched soon, here: https://explained.media and the mission is to explain Europe inclusively and visually using data jounralism.
With this startup, I hope to inspire other journalists and make a larger impact on the (under-represented) community and other journalists.
I have also shared the techniques of this article on [Nightingale magazine](https://nightingaledvs.com/spotlight-do-you-feel-what-others-feel/).
Techniques/technologies used:
Four interactivity techniques: personalisation, gamification, scrollytelling and explore section.
Tools and technologies: Flourish and Scrollama.
Context about the project:
Among these factors, i would say innovative technologies and the editorial decsions. I used a Flourish templates – so, the technology isn’t sophisticated in anyway. But i surprised myself when i turned a survey dataset intro a quiz and a scrolly, the audience I spoke to had spent time and engaged with the dataset.
In addition, i want to add resource constraints. As a student, working alone, and against a project deadline, there are many constraints. Most importantly, it was the amount of time. I created and published the story within a day I came across the data release.
What can other journalists learn from this project?
The main lesson i want to share is that it doesn’t need a lot of time, energy and other sophisticatied resources that is avaiable in big news rooms, to create engaging stories. A young-amateur-individual jouranlist can come quite far with free and open-source tools.
Project links:
