Scientific Research, Motivation
2024 Research Summary: Insights, Innovations, and the Journey Ahead
A summary of my scientific activity over the last year.
As a researcher, my work involves uncovering new insights and exploring the uncharted. This year, 2024, has been particularly exciting, marked by groundbreaking advancements in data storytelling and artificial intelligence (AI). While these domains may seem distinct, I’ve realized they are profoundly interconnected and capable of thriving together in innovative ways. Let me take you through the key discoveries and projects that defined my year.
The Foundations of Data Storytelling
The first major realization of 2024 was that data storytelling is not just about visualizing data; it’s about crafting a compelling narrative. Before creating any charts or graphs, you need to conceptualize a story. Raw data is meaningless without context, and organizing your data into a coherent narrative is the first critical step.
This idea forms the cornerstone of my upcoming book, Become a Great Data Storyteller. Writing this book consumed much of my year as I immersed myself in literature on cinematography, novel structuring, editing techniques, and more. My goal was to explore how cinematic techniques could be applied to data storytelling. The result is a guide that bridges the gap between these fields, offering practical advice on structuring and presenting data stories.
The S-DIKW Framework: From Data to Wisdom
Another significant milestone this year was my collaboration with Professor Kate McDowell from the University of Illinois. Together, we worked on an article introducing the S-DIKW framework, which maps the journey from data to wisdom. This conceptual framework provides theoretical insights and is a practical tool for crafting data-driven stories. The article will be published in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.
The framework and its applications are detailed in my published book, Data Storytelling with Altair and AI (Manning Publications, 2024). This book also explores how tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and GitHub Copilot can assist in creating compelling narratives, blending AI’s capabilities with human creativity. A summary of this is available in the ERCIM News journal: Towards AI-Assisted Data Storytelling. More details about the topic in the following two podcasts:
I also investigated how to connect data storytelling and AI in a paper presented at the IVAPP conference: Using Retrieval Augmented Generation to Build the Context for Data-Driven Stories.
Pushing AI’s Boundaries in Storytelling
This year, one of my most ambitious projects involved testing whether AI could generate fictional stories from scientific texts. We collaborated with archaeologist and researcher Francesca Buscemi to apply this idea to archaeological texts. The results, published in the article Combining Generative AI and Archaeology to Build Data-Driven Stories, presented at the 2024 AIUCD conference, revealed exciting possibilities for combining scientific rigor with creative storytelling.
You can find the generated stories at this link. This is the best story generated by AI:
In the heart of the Mesara plain, nestled amidst the rugged Cretan landscape, lay the ancient city of Phaistos. Its grandeur was a testament to the Late Bronze Age, a time when the Minoan civilization was at its zenith. But the city’s most remarkable feature was not its palace or its labyrinthine streets, but a humble kiln, a symbol of the city’s transition into the Iron Age. The kiln of Phaistos was not an ordinary one. It was a colossal structure, built with the finest clay and stone, and it stood as a beacon of the city’s technological prowess. It was here that the people of Phaistos, under the guidance of their skilled blacksmiths, began to forge iron, a material that would revolutionise their society. The story revolves around two characters, Eirenaios and Theron, blacksmiths from the Iron Age. Eirenaios, the elder of the two, was a master of his craft. He had learned the art of blacksmithing from his father, who had learned it from his father before him. Theron, on the other hand, was a young apprentice, eager to learn and full of dreams. Eirenaios was a stern teacher, but he saw potential in Theron. He taught him how to stoke the kiln, how to shape the iron, and how to temper it to make it strong. Theron, for his part, was a diligent student. He listened to Eirenaios’ teachings and practised tirelessly, his hands often blistered and burnt from the heat of the kiln. The kiln was their world, a world of fire and iron. It was here that they forged tools and weapons, items that were essential for their society’s survival. The kiln was also a symbol of their city’s progress, a testament to their transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. In the backdrop of their story, the grand palace of Phaistos stood tall. Its elaborate architecture, with its intricate frescoes and labyrinthine corridors, was a stark contrast to the simplicity of the kiln. Yet, it was the kiln that was the heart of the city, the engine that drove its progress. The story of Eirenaios and Theron is a story of mentorship and growth, of tradition and innovation. It is a story that reflects the spirit of the Iron Age, a time of technological advancement and societal change. But above all, it is a story of Phaistos, a city that embraced the future while honoring its past.
In the environmental domain, I worked with my sister, Rosa, an environmental engineer, to explore whether AI could extract actionable insights from environmental data. We presented our preliminary findings at the Discovery Science conference. We described them in the poster paper Towards AI-Based Data Analytics for Environmental Monitoring, showcasing the transformative potential of AI in this field. You can find the implemented code in the paper's GitHub repository. Out of curiosity, I had fun building a dynamic wheel to include in the poster. You can find details on how to make the wheel here.
Maritime Routes and Machine Learning
Venturing into maritime logistics, I explored machine learning algorithms for predicting ship traffic. While this project may seem unrelated to data storytelling, the challenge of organizing and interpreting vast datasets underscored the importance of narrative, even in technical domains. By testing various algorithms, we identified models that accurately forecast ship routes, a crucial step for optimizing global shipping operations.
With my colleagues, we published two papers:
Unlocking Insights from Text Data
Another area of exploration was using large language models (LLMs) to extract and organize entities from repetitive texts. This research culminated in a presentation at the WEBIST conference. The paper is entitled An Empirical Study on Extracting Named Entities from Repetitive Texts.
The paper is part of a broader collaboration with the Jewish Community of Pisa to digitally preserve and highlight the cultural significance of the Pisa Jewish Cemetery. We also published a paper about this project entitled Genealogical Data-Driven Visits of Historical Cemeteries.
This project reminded me of the humanity behind the data — that every dataset represents real people and stories.
Beyond the Present: What’s Next for 2025?
Looking ahead to 2025, I am eager to build on this year’s momentum. Some exciting initiatives include:
- Adapting data storytelling for visually impaired individuals: Ensuring everyone can access and understand data is a critical goal for the coming year.
- Deepening the integration of AI and data storytelling: I already have ideas brewing and look forward to developing them further.
- Python tools for storytelling: One of my students is developing PyNarrative, a Python library for data storytelling. Stay tuned for updates on this project.
- AI and tourism: I plan to dive deeper into this fascinating intersection by combining my passion for AI with tourism analytics.
- Rethinking Excel and AI: While traditional, Excel remains a powerful tool, and I’m exploring ways to enhance it with AI.
Summary
2024 was a year of discovery, growth, and innovation, and I’m thrilled about the possibilities that 2025 holds. Whether through books, research, or new tools, my mission remains to uncover the stories within the data and share them with the world.
If you’re passionate about these topics, let’s connect and shape the future of data storytelling together!
