The Shortlist

🏆 Winner
繁花盛于 旧时里弄 History and Humanity of Shanghai's Lane

• Juanjuan Long - Jiangnan University, School of Design, WuXi, Jiangsu, China
• Tong Xiao - Jiangnan University, School of Design, WuXi, Jiangsu, China
• Anqi Zang - Jiangnan University, School of Design, WuXi, Jiangsu, China
• Wu Zhou - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Junjie Hong - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Zijian Li - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Chuandong Zhao - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai China
• Han Fang - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Siyuan He - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China

This visualization website aims to showcase the profound essence of Shanghai Shikumen, documenting the gradually disappearing landscape of Shikumen lanes in the city's development. By delving into the evolution of Shikumen, we employ data analysis to reveal the historical architecture's development over different periods. This includes collecting geographical data in Shikumen areas, statistical analysis of architectural styles and quantities, and researching the correlation between historical events and red culture. Additionally, we conducted on-site research in Shanghai, documenting many existing Shikumen buildings and the transformation of Shikumen into modernized commercial centers. Through visual storytelling, artistic graphics, and charts, we portray the unique significance of Shikumen in the evolution of Shanghai's urban landscape, offering an interactive and vivid platform for urban history enthusiasts.

🏅 Honorable Mention
Starry Starry Night: Visualizing Astrology Imagery in Tang Poetry

• Yechun Peng - Intelligent Big Data Visualization Lab, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
• Jingxin Ye - Intelligent Big Data Visualization Lab, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
• Dianheng Jiang - College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
• Qing Chen - Intelligent Big Data Visualization Lab, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
• Yang Shi - Intelligent Big Data Visualization Lab, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
• Nan Cao - Intelligent Big Data Visualization Lab, Tongji College of Design and Innovation, Shanghai, China

Astrology emerges as a distinctive and mystical facet of traditional Chinese culture, imparting a unique charm when interwoven into ancient literature such as Tang poetry. We designed an interactive webpage to visualize the application of astrology in Tang poems, comprising two integral sections: a data-driven story and an exploration page. In the story section, interactive charts reveal nuanced insights into astrology in Tang poetry—spanning its prevalence, methods, emotional expressions, and poets' preferences. The exploration section empowers users to filter poems based on dimensions, facilitating a comprehensive exploration of content and visual coding by selecting specific poems. During data collection phase, approximately 2,400 poems were curated from a opensource database of over 40,000 Tang poems using keyword extraction and manual filtering. In data analysis phase, poems underwent narrative exploration guided by research literature and NLP analysis. Visualization phase incorporated D3.js to craft informative charts and diagrams. Explore the project at https://yejingxin515.github.io/astrology-webpage/.

AI Error as Inspiration Catalysts: Human-AI Synergy Sparks Creative Evolution

• Runqi Fang - School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China
• Qitong Zhou - School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China
• Chuhan Li - Hunan University, Changsha, China
• Mingyu Du - Hunan University, ChangSha, China
• Pengfei Zhang - School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China
• Fang Liu - School of Design, Hunan University, Changsha, China

In the era that artificial intelligence thriving in the creative field, we aim to explore the collaborative relationship between humans and AI from an interdisciplinary perspective, merging art and computer science. Our focus lies on AI's imperfections and their potential to fuel creativity.Inverting the perspective: Transforming limitations into opportunities. Therefore, highlighting AI errors, we conducted an experiment in which the algorithm detects objects in everyday life, using their misidentification results as an alternative perspective to stimulate human creativity, to break free from the confines of the information cocoon. Our demonstration took the form of an infographic video, culminating in the visualization of experimental data and the design of a website. In conclusion, we have a concept of Transforming limitations into opportunities, which is to utilize AI errors to strengthen creativity, and we wish to explore and practice more possible ways of collaboration between human and AI in the future.

City Pulse: Global Metro Line Development History

• Xinyue Chen - Peking University, Beijing, China
• Yixuan Zhang - Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
• Yutong Yang - Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
• Jing Chen - Nanjing University of the Arts, NUA School of Design, Nanjing, China
• Xiaoru Yuan - Peking University, Beijing, China
• Wai Ping Chan - School of Design, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
• Rebecca Ruige Xu - Department of Film & Media Arts / College of Visual & Performing Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, United States

The metro is the pulse of a city. Yet, the complexity of metro systems, with their extensive data spanning continents, nations, and cities, surpasses human comprehension. Inspired by Harry Beck's 1933 design of the London Underground map, we designed further abstracted and simplified metro lines. Starting from the topological structure of metros, we generate City Squares by calculating line colors, mileage, and coverage data. These vibrant, color-rich Squares serve as a window into global development, offering a snapshot of a city's metro at any given moment. Such a dynamic visualization not only reveals the city changes but also provides a global overview and comparison, yielding insights from the data. While our primary medium is video to narrate the global metro story, we also offer a website (https://vis.pku.edu.cn/metro/dist) for those who wish to explore metro stories more pertinent to them. This site allows users to explore the data through interactive engagement.

破碎之美 惜物之心 Beauty of Crack Recovery, Heart of Cherishing Things

• Juanjuan Long - Jiangnan University, School of Design, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
• Bin Deng - Jiangnan University, School of Design, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
• Yifei Li - Jiangnan University, School of Design, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
• Yufei He - Jiangnan University, School of Design, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
• Wu Zhou - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Junjie Hong - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Zijian Li - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Chuandong Zhao - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Han Fang - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China
• Siyuan He - Digital Experience, Cognizant, Shanghai, China

As an ancient skill, Kintsugi originated from Chinese lacquer art. It uses lacquer as an adhesive to bond the fragments, and repairs them with gold powder and gold foil, condensing the charm of the years and the emotion of the craftsman. Utensils are like people, and they also have life. It is like an ancient poem, telling the story of brokenness and rebirth: every trace of Kintsugi is like a mark of history. Each broken utensil has an emotional connection, and lacquer is used to weave a new chapter for them. Thank you for joining us on our Kintsugi journey. Please search for the link to visit our website. Let us explore the beauty of Kintsugi crafts together, appreciate the unique charm of traditional handicrafts, and feel the mark of time.

Stock Forest: Revealing the Evolving Stories of the Stock Market through Visualization

• Rufei Han - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Jieying Ding - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• He Tan - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Ziyan Lin - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Wang Su - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Haoyu Zhang - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Jiaman Ni - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Changju Zhou - Hithink RoyalFlush Information Network Co., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

This video explores the evolution of the U.S. stock market through a multidimensional data mapping method, using the metaphor of a tree to represent each listed company. By examining tree characteristics such as color, height, and width, we delve into various market dynamics, including company health, market valuation, and sector concentration. The narrative focuses on how these visual indicators reveal patterns of growth, risk, and innovation within the market, emphasizing the interplay between technological advancements and market fluctuations. Through this creative visualization, we aim to provide a unique perspective on understanding the complexities of the stock market and industry trends.

About

The Visual Data Storytelling contest celebrates its 8^th year in 2024. This contest aims to encourage students, researchers, and visualization practitioners to demonstrate the value of data visualization through compelling visual data stories.

This contest celebrates the emerging data communication genre, including data storytelling, narrative visualizations, explanatory notebooks, and visual essays. The contest will be held in conjunction with IEEE PacificVis 2024 from April 23-26, 2024 at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.

Potential contest entrants are encouraged to review the following events and venues for inspiration:

• The Information is Beautiful Awards
• The Tapestry Conference
• The Malofiej Infographics World Summit
• The Pudding
• NYT Graphics
• Visualizing Data
• Explorable Explanations
• Google News Lab

Entries from previous contests:

• Entries from 2023
• Entries from 2022
• Entries from 2021
• Entries from 2017-2020

Talks about data-driven storytelling:

• Once Upon a Time: From Data to Stories(John Schwabish @ Socrata Connect 2017)
• Animation, Pacing, and Exposition(Tony Chu @ OpenVisConf 2016)
• Where's Larry? Bringing Data to Life Through Story (Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic @ Tapestry Conference 2017)

PacificVis is a unified visualization symposium welcoming all areas of visualization, such as information, scientific, graph, security, and software visualization. Storytellers are invited to submit visual data-driven stories that draw upon any of these areas. In addition, entries that focus on computational journalism and artistic design projects are encouraged. Unlike contests such as the IEEE VAST challenge or the IEEE SciVis Contest, the data for the PacificVis visual data storytelling contest is intentionally left unspecified; storytellers are free to choose any publicly available dataset(s). Similarly, the task that storytellers are to accomplish is to successfully communicate a message or series of messages (i.e., a narrative, a series of insights) using data visualization techniques. The story's themes can draw from any topic, including current affairs, history, natural disasters, and research findings from the sciences and humanities.

Entries may be submitted by teams or individuals from industry and academia. Conference sponsors can participate non-competitively. Submissions must fulfill the requirements explained below.

Requirements

Submissions can take several forms:

• Images: A collection of images, charts, infographics, data comics, and/or data visualization that convey a story using engaging visual designs. Example 1 and Example 2.
• Video: An animation that tells a data-driven story using visualizations. Note that video submissions that appear to be tutorials or demonstrations of a visualization tool will not be considered; the focus of the submission must be a visual narrative about the data, not a visualization tool or technique. Example.
• Notebooks: Interactive articles, markups, and notebooks that guide the reader through a narrative using text and visualizations. Examples of explainable notebook platforms include Distill, Idyll, and Observable.
• Website: An interactive web page that guides the user through the story. Note that purely analytic or exploratory visualization tools/dashboards that do not provide guidance or storytelling to the user will not be considered. The winning entry in the 2017 contest is an excellent example of a website entry: Example.
• Unconventional Forms: Other forms of interactive storytelling work, such as virtual/augmented reality, mixed reality, and other audio-visual projects, are also encouraged to submit as well. A video is likely the best way to make the initial submission. For unconventional entries that are accepted, we will work with the artists/authors to decide the best possible way to exhibit the work at the conference.

Other requirements:

• The story must feature a visual representation of data generated by various techniques such as computer programming (e.g., D3.js), manual illustration (e.g., using pen & paper, physical objects, or illustration software), or other relevant techniques. Third-party techniques or applications may be used in conjunction with the author's own work as long as proper credit is given to their respective creators and it is made clear which aspects of the implementation represent the authors' own work.
• The entries must be original data-driven stories that have not been previously published elsewhere.
• The dataset(s) used in the story must be publicly available, and linked to, sourced, or otherwise referenced.
• The story content can be in any language, while accompanying explanations should be provided in English. This will help our judges provide a proper evaluation of your submission.
• A 150-word abstract (entered on the PCS submission website) that may briefly describe the purpose of the story along with the data analysis and design process undertaken by the storyteller(s). The abstract should not include the message(s) communicated by the story; the story must stand alone in this regard such that a viewer should not need to read the abstract to understand the story.
• Supplementary materials are encouraged. For example, high-resolution images, videos, audio files, or other materials to show design processes that will help reviewers evaluate the submission.
• For the accepted entries, we expect the following additional requirements:
  • A brief demo video describing the submission. (Exact details will be sent out to accepted entries.)
  • At least one member of the team must register for the conference and be present at the contest's sessions and award ceremony.

Submission

Submit online through the new Precision Conference System at the PacificVis 2024 Storytelling Contest track.

• Static entries such as infographics and data comics should be submitted in PDF format.
• Videos should be in mp4 format, with a maximum file size of 300 MB.
• Explainable articles and websites can be submitted as a web URL. Such entries should be directly runnable in a browser without downloading or installing packages/libraries/etc.

If you have chosen to submit a URL (i.e., a website submission or an online version of your video or image submission), please add the URL in the abstract field.

Reviewing and Awards

A jury of visualization and data storytelling experts will carefully judge each submission and make the selection of accepted entries. Successful entries will effectively communicate a narrative, message(s), or insight(s) using visual representations of data. Each judge assigned to a submission will give the submission a score from 1 to 5, and they will be asked the following questions:

• Is the story novel?
• Is the story original (i.e., the author’s own work not previously published elsewhere)?
• Is the story trustworthy and functional (i.e., is the message clearly communicated)?
• Is the story engaging and beautiful?
• Is the story informative and enlightening?
• Are the submission requirements met?

Accepted submissions will be published on the PacificVis Storytelling Contest website. A selected set of accepted entries will receive awards (Honorable Mention and Best Storytelling Awards). Awards will be presented to the winners during the conference.

Timeline

All dates are Midnight AOE.

Committee

Contest Judges

Contest Chairs

John Thompson
Autodesk Research

Juanjuan Long
Jiangnan University

Contact

Email: pvis_contest@pvis.org