Disseminating diversity in Lithuanian Media
Cheers to us đ¸! At Sheldon.Studio, we have just published a joint data inquiry project with the Lietuvos Ĺ˝urnalistikos Centras (LZC) on the Expertsâ gender gap in the Lithuanian Media.
Although it seems destined to become a buzzword, and perhaps it already is one, the concept of diversity truly is fundamental to the well-being of our society. A diversity of genders, cultures, backgrounds, languages etc., allows for a more consistent, organic and enriching form of living and working, ensuring the inclusion of different voices and perspectives. It is a concept that needs to be put into practice in everyday life đ§ââď¸, starting from the workplace to organisations and institutions, so that it reverberates throughout society.
The concept becomes undeniably important when it comes to the media and all those organisations that on a daily basis tell the story of our societies. Although different degrees of diversity have been reached in editorial offices, there is still a high level of gender imbalance. It seems almost a mantra, and yet we are so far away from the finish line đ. And this is not something that we are saying for the sake of it. The data collected by the Lithuanian Journalism Centre (LZC) shows it through a hand-picking effort of media pieces that began in 2021 and immediately saw men outnumber women.
The collaboration
This is how the collaboration between Sheldon.studio and the LZC team was born, looking at carefully and persistently hand-collected data đ, gathered day after day, monitoring expertsâ gender in web, TV, and radio. The mere idea collecting data by hand made our heads spin đ¤Ş, but we adored the perseverance of Dzina, Ugne, Ieva and Kranthi. We could not leave them alone in their mission đ! When discussing the data collection and tagging methodology, Dzina explained to us why automation was out of the picture: âThe reason is that it is not possible to identify who is the expert in the article if we do not read the actual text â journalist might not use the word âexpertâ, and the machines would not be able to tell if the person is just a commentator or the participant/creator of the event.â
So in the early stages of the project we are about to present below we supported them by systematising the data collection to reduce the chances of error at various collection stages â and then by working on a dissemination system that could somehow return the capillarity of the data without losing sight of the bigger picture. This paved the way to the most exciting challenge in terms of design: imagining visual forms able to render more than 2500 elements on a single screen. But before spoilering, letâs start from the beginning đŹ!
The project
As mentioned, the LZC study measured inclusivity in expert selection in the media. Between July and November 2021, it monitored 1674 national media pieces, including digital articles, TV panels, and radio pieces. The LZC project started with the premise that the media operates as a tool to understand our societyâs power dynamics and what needs to change about them â at the end of the day, it raises awareness on just how unbalanced Lithuanian media representation is when it comes to gender. Our contribution consisted of designing a web platform that aims to engage a broader and inexperienced audience by presenting the data and emerging statistics in a comprehensive yet minimalistic, informative and engaging manner. Beyond the platform, however, the work of LZC extends to the writing of reports based on the analysis. The reports will be shared and presented to Lithuanian newsrooms, in an effort to send a powerful message on the observed gender discrepancy to the actors directly involved in the problem.
The web design
Being the platformâs goal to present the research results, we wanted to offer two levels of exploration: macro and micro. The first one refers to showing the emerging aggregate statistics (e.g. how many experts are women, how many are men), and the second refers to the possibility for the user to explore each data pointâs information. We liked the idea that this level of exploration would promote transparency and interactivity.
As designers, we were faced with some priorities and challenges. A priority was to make the web platform mobile-first đą, following the principle that what works on small screens will work on a big one đĽ â but not necessarily vice-versa. This matched the challenge of wanting to present the data in its entirety. So how do you fit 1349 data pieces on a small screen, each of them individually explorable? We solved this by combining the visual identity we gave to the site to the visual shape we gave to the data.
The visual identity
Our site was to be in harmony with the visual identity of LZC, of course đ§. We looked at their logo, and â a bit at random (at least, they werenât aware of the connection when we asked them), found that it reminded us of traditional Lithuanian crafts.
We let their logo striking geometry inspire the shape we gave to each data point. Funnily enough, that helped us kill two birds with one stone: visual identity âď¸, and minimise the space required by each data point to fit on the screen âď¸. How? A bit of play with shapes, and we found one that played with space smartly đ§ .
Despite relying on rectangular screens, we realised we could also split shapes into triangles. Diagonals opened up our creative horizon, giving us new ways to give form to a data pointâs outline. We also decided to encode several variables in the same DataViz: the colour for the type of medium and the filling for gender. It is not by chance that men look empty, while women look filled shapes. When we tried the opposite, it became clear that having the whole screen filled with blank forms would let them stand out more in respect to the few filled ones.
Each triangle stands for a single media appearance, and when hovered its individual information is retrieved. We then brainstormed how to add macro-level information, especially useful for comparing media types. To achieve this, we added a text-based footer that returns the aggregate info for each medium.
But then the DataViz looked a little bit complex for our taste, so we designed around it a data scrollytelling approach, limited just to the charts. Despite the controversies that populate the debate on scrollytelling, we used it as a tool to guide the reader through our data visualisations and thus empower visually illiterate readers.
Could I have an upside-down Espresso Martini, please?
The form of storytelling we picked follows what is known as the âreverse Martini glassâ. We started by offering the big picture (the foot of the glass), an intro text with explanatory information about the study. We then described how to read the visualisations and showcased the aggregate statistics emerging from the union of the single data points. We embedded this information in the scrollytelling, in what we can consider the stem of the Martini glass.
At the end of the guided narration, we let the user explore the data in full, in what opens up as a myriad of self-dictated learning opportunities: the Pandora vase, or going back to the Martini glass analogy, the cocktail-holding part of the glass.Th
Generative design for our data viz
Beyond showing the gender gaps in experts selection at the individual level, as well as at the features (i.e. show, panel, article) level, we thought we could also explore the most debated topics in the Lithuanian media, and visualise the gender composition of experts within those. Again, spiky shapes were our friends! But, uniquely from the rest of the site, in this viz we took a generative approach and coded the data viz to make it a spontaneous aggregation of triangles, taking on a new agglomerative shape at every access. Like molecules, or cells, the size of the viz relates to the number of experts who spoke about a specific topic, while the filling relates to gender.
At the end of the piece, to promote a way forward and demonstrate that diversity fundamentally is one choice of expert away, we designed an internal search engine to support those interested in finding experts. Users can seek specific topics or names and get in touch with the experts directly. Lastly, we offer a series of calls to action, sparking different kinds of contributions: applying as an expert and becoming part of the LZC database, supporting the centreâs work, or helping with future monitoring. Indeed we donât see the finish line for the project. We designed it for its sustainability in the long term.
Design for project sustainability
Talking about sustainability, we should not forget to mention that what we designed for LZC was a reproducible, infinitely reusable web platform. The site is built so that the data visualisations are dynamically generated by extracting information about each data point and the aggregate statistics from a Google Sheet. What does this mean in practice? That if you want to make changes to the data without having to maintain the website, too, you can. And that if youâre going to re-do this next year, you can duplicate the site, the spreadsheet and just input the new data. We learned a good lesson here: provide your client with a re-usable solution â they will be willing to invest more for the project, and your design team will be incredibly proud of having generated a sustainable solution âťď¸đ.
Wax on â wax off
The collaboration with the LZC allowed us to explore and refine a storytelling and DataViz model we are looking forward to re-using and improving. We are indeed working on new occasions to extend and scale the research. Thatâs how design research works, babe. Designing, evaluating, redesigning, re-evaluating. If you want to go far, go together, and perhaps listen to Myagy-san in addition to ancient African proverbs.
Well, if you reach this point, you deserve the link to the project đ. Say hello to âDiversity matters, especially in the mediaâ .
Sheldon.studio
Weâre a socially-focussed data design studio based in Italyâ¨. We create informational experiences by marrying data and design. The goal? To engage more people in complex issues through simple, interactive data storytelling design.
