Participatory interactive graphics(?) are visualizations that are designed to change around data from individual readers. These graphics use information solicited from the user or the user’s computer as a lens through which complex data or very general data is presented. This kind of interaction is increasingly important in storytelling.

Here are 3 types of stories I have come across that fall into this category.

1. Calculators and searchable interfaces – These searchable or adjustable interfaces allow users to glimpse the larger underlying system by answering each user’s targeted questions. Examples: “How The Internet* Talks” and “Is It Better to Rent or Buy?”

2. Draw your own/quizzes – Soliciting educated guesses of trends from users to involve them in thinking about the logic behind trends and increase impact. Example:  “You Draw It: How Family Income Predicts Children’s College Chances“ 

3. Geolocating Users – Using ip addresses to geolocate users and automatically alter the view and accompanying text of the visualization to be centered around a user’s location. This is used in navigating general and comprehensive datasets that cover the whole country but are only of interest to most readers as smaller slices. Example: “The Best and Worst Places to Grow Up: How Your Area Compares” 

I think these types of interaction are not only an important tool for storytelling online, but can affect larger patterns for reading online for several reasons.
1. They might be more readily shareable across social media because of how specific they are to the interest of a reader.
2. Commenting is problematic on many online articles. I think using this specific type of interaction can potentially serve as a filter for comment reading, and provide constructive directions for comment writing and discussion among readers.
3. Finally, this kind of interaction could serve as a dynamic filter for customizing out links from the article and effect recommendations.

There are discussions to be had on whether the data gathered from interacting with graphics should be used for purposes of catering content. I’m not sure yet how I feel about editorial decisions that might be increasingly challenged by the metrics of social media and how this addition contributes to the discussion. I would like to know more about how feedback is currently weighted in the newsroom. Ultimately, this interaction may result in more stories being force fit into a data-centric model that is less good than what we have now. There are also definitely issues with the quality of the data being gathered from this type of interaction, which is an interesting area of study once there is a large enough sample size.

I do believe experimenting with this type of input is ultimately worth it and could change the way we look at readers and frame select stories in a positive way. Actively using reader input is a important concept for storytelling. It is not new, but it is adoption within interactive graphics has presented very exciting recent use cases and it is a topic that I would like to explore further.