Bringing data to life: Interactive data stories
Why do floods hit some regions harder than others? Who has the time to
rest—and who doesn’t?

From the risks of natural disasters to the hidden inequalities in how
people spend their days, data can help us tell powerful stories about
the world we live in. But complex datasets alone don’t always make
for easy reading.

To make these complex datasets more understandable and accessible, we
have created a growing series of visual, interactive narratives that
brings high-value datasets
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?is_hvd=true&locale=en] to life
as interactive data stories
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/high-value-datasets/].
These stories combine text, visuals, and interactive elements to
create engaging narratives. Using data-driven stories offers a
distinct advantage by drawing attention to high-value datasets and
demonstrating their practical use.

The stories guide you step-by-step through the datasets used,
accompanied by a visualisation note. This note is an article that
introduces readers to the language of data visualisation, which is
effective in highlighting patterns, trends, and demonstrating how the
data is utilised. Moreover, the interactive elements provide a more
engaging experience for a broad audience. 

The first two published interactive data stories, ‘What Water Can
Take from Us
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/high-value-datasets/what-water-can-take-from-us.html]’
and ‘Everyone’s Busy – But not Equally’
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories/high-value-datasets/everyones-busy-but-not-equally.html],
exemplify the impact of open data. ‘What Water Can Take from Us’
uses different datasets related to flooding risk to build a story that
informs public debate on how to address this issue, with Spain as an
example.  ‘Everyone’s Busy – But not Equally’ combines
various datasets related to income-inequality and activity groups to
explore how time use varies at the country level, highlighting
inequalities. Both stories demonstrate how open data can be
transformed into valuable insights and practical utilities. By making
these complex datasets more understandable and accessible to a broad
audience, the EU promotes the importance of transparency,
collaboration and engagement. 

Are you interested in using high-value datasets or seeking more
context about them? Engage with the interactive data stories,
dive-deep into more complex high-value datasets on data.europa.eu
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?is_hvd=true&locale=en], and
discover their impact!

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[https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter]. You can also connect with
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[https://data.europa.eu/dashboard/en/community/collaboration-channel].

Publication Date/Time
2025-04-21T08:00:00+00:00
Understand high-value datasets through engaging narratives