Data Storytelling for Disruptors

Disruptive innovations have become common in these 'postnormal' times. Organisations that seek to be disruptive are fusing big data analytics with storytelling to nurture better business cultures. Narratives and data stories encourage participation in innovation. We share our recent experience and insights into data storytelling and disruptive innovation.

The School of Lifelogging

Could lifelogging address the educational "achievement gap" while preparing children from all backgrounds to work with data? Securing personal data from unwelcome eyes will likely remain a challenge. Lifelogging is not just about quantitative analysis. Highly engaging, qualitative storytelling can also emerge from data gathered by learners. Stories of self-determination would involve the learner's own understanding of personal ambitions and dreams.

Lifelogging is part of a growing movement known as "the quantified self". Wearable sensors and cameras capture data about an individual's everyday experience to improve self-understanding. Ordinarily focused on health and wellbeing, lifelogging could disrupt education as we know it. Smartphones were only the beginning. Performance data from wearable devices could personalise learning in ever more intimate ways.

3D Printing the Internet of Things

The world of 3D printed things is steadily growing. Awareness of this disruptive innovation is rising and it is becoming difficult to ignore. From printed shells for hermit crabs to printed homes for people, one wonders, will everything soon be printable?

Internet of Things: Getting a better sense of the opportunity

The Data Strategist of Cause Analytics, David Pidsley, shared a cool article in the Anticipate Change community about how the adoption of wireless and battery-free sensor platforms in industrial settings are resulting in the “real meat and potatoes” use cases behind big data. The article from Practical Analytics focuses on the 1% efficiency gains of the "Industrial Internet" advocated by GE. Have a look at the infographic.

The winds of disruptive innovation

Disruptive Innovation involves simplification. Clay Christensen, who coined the term, didn't quite put it that way, but explained how his theory represents the transformation of a complex and expensive product used by experts into something more accessible for a larger population.

In this way, it is also a strategic move. By targeting the bottom of a market with simplicity, the innovation disrupts the legacies of overly-complicated and costly competitors. You may enjoy hearing his examples in the following video.