APHL’s Top 10 Stories of 2022

Graphic says: APHL's Top Stories of 2022

Year after year we at APHL continue to be impressed with public health laboratory staff around the world. As 2022 comes to a close, we reflect on a year that brought many challenges and many successes. These ten stories highlight just a small segment of the work public health laboratories have done this year to respond to emergencies and perform routine testing to keep their communities safe and healthy. The stories don’t cover everything, of course, but they certainly demonstrate why we are so proud of our members and partners year after year. Thank you to every single person who supported the public’s health in 2022. We look forward to telling the stories of your work in 2023!

While these stories had the most views or downloads in their respective publications, there are many more excellent stories in Lab Matters, on the APHL Blog or on the Lab Culture podcast so be sure to check those out too! This list is in chronological order of the date they were published:

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Telling stories in visual, data-driven essays

For The Pudding, Ilia Blinderman rounds out his three-part series on creating visual, data-driven essays. This last part in on the fuzziest task of telling stories:

Storytelling, however, is much more abstract — it’s not merely a technical matter of creating an image of a map, or designing the right chart; rather, it refers to the broader universe of considerations that impact nearly every decision you make in the way you frame and present a project. The focus is much less on the technical “how,” like in the first two installments of these guides, but on the “why” of designing the narrative. It certainly doesn’t help that technical tools are inherently more concrete: they’re ways of solving specific problems (e.g., “how do I show the locations where people are concentrated on a map?” or “how do get this visual element to move through this specific path?”), while storytelling is much more of a nebulous concept. Thus, in this guide, I’ll be focusing on the relevant questions and considerations that we, at The Pudding, tend to consider when creating data-driven projects.

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The Story Collider Presents: APHL – call for story pitches

The Story Collider and APHL logos

Sadly, in its inaugural year, APHL’s ID Lab Con had to be canceled. Well, most of it… APHL planned an exciting after hours event with The Story Collider and we’re joining them in bringing this event to you online!

On August 27 (time TBD), The Story Collider and APHL will host a very special edition of their online live show. They will choose three people to share true, personal stories related to the COVID response in some way, showcasing the work and lives of the APHL community.

What is The Story Collider?

Science and public health shape everyone’s life—and that means everyone has science and public health stories to tell. The Story Collider produces dozens of live shows all over the country, and recently has moved to an exciting online format. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, others are hilarious, but they are all true and all very personal. Join us on August 27, 2020 (time TBD) for a very special edition of The Story Collider, featuring three true, personal stories about science from APHL members!

What makes a good story for this event?

Stories are powerful. Whether hilarious or heartbreaking, subversive or soothing, it matters who takes the stage and what stories are told. Whatever your position in the lab, we want to hear yours! The story must have an arc. This means that you, the storyteller, change from the beginning to the end of the story. This change can be big or small— as momentous as becoming a parent or as small as learning to ask for help—but it has to be there in order for the audience to feel that the story is going somewhere.

Is this similar to a conference presentation?

The Story Collider is not the place for lectures: it is about lived experiences. And the format does not include slides or props. Though this is a science storytelling show, the goal is not to educate the audience, but to build an emotional connection between science and the public. So while each story must contain a significant science element, please use only as much science as needed for the audience to understand and follow your story.

I have an idea, but it needs some help!

All you need at this point is the seed of an idea for your story. It can be about almost anything – being pulled away from your usual work to support COVID testing, a surprising realization, long days at the lab, supporting a team, misadventure, love, loss and more, but it must be about YOU. True, personal stories have the most power when they are about the person telling them. Let the audience in on your thoughts and feelings so they can go on the journey with you.

If you are selected for the show, keep in mind that there is a small time commitment involved. Every storyteller works one on one with a Story Collider producer to brainstorm and shape their story, and then they typically hold a group rehearsal one to three days before the show.

The Story Collider event will be recorded. If you would like to submit a pitch, please be sure to get any necessary permissions from your supervisor and public information officer.

Send your pitches!

Pitches are typically about two paragraphs long. Send your pitch to stories@storycollider.org with “APHL Story Idea” in the subject line. The deadline for pitches is July 10, 2020.

Need some inspiration?

 

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On Story Telling

  Last Monday night I took the mic at a Toronto bar. The whole second floor was full of conservation scientists in town for the North American Congress for Conservation Biology, the music from below

Multi-layered storytelling with visualization

Multi-layered storytelling

Quick and simple. It is a common theme in visualization that preaches clarity in as little time as possible, and it is certainly applicable in a variety of places. But is there a place for complexity in visualization that encourages people to carefully read what the data is about? Giorgia Lupi, design director at Accurat, thinks so.

Experimental visualizations design should always aim at balancing conventions and familiar forms people are comfortable with, and novelty: truly imaginative visuals able to attract individuals into the exploration, able to transform the strange of any visual experiment we include into the known, and ultimately able to invite readers to explore the richness of the stories lying behind.

This changes the process, as you then must consider more factors in addition to basic geometry.

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