Mobilities of Data Narratives

Abstract

Learning in data-rich environments has been a focus of learning sciences research since the inception of the field, with increasing interest in the ways learners narrate data. This article examines the narration of data from the perspective of learning on the move, identifying mobilities of data, and of the narratives in which they are mobilized. Two case studies of data narration are presented: seventh graders in a social studies classroom, describing African-American migrations to and from a familiar neighborhood, using a census data visualization tool; and a presentation by the director of special education for a school district to the Board of Education, using data to describe trends in the district. Four modes of data narration are examined across cases: (1) telling a story about oneself working with data; (2) animating a data representation; (3) incorporating data into extant narratives; and (4) narrating oneself into a data-represented world. The analysis examines the ways data, narratives, and people are set in motion in each of these modes, and the ways the resulting mobilities mediate learning with data.