Tools & Resources
Our clients regularly ask us for tools and resources related to effective data communication. Below are some frequently requested resources, as well as ways you can get ongoing updates from us on new data viz tips.
New: Check out Local-Level Data to Inform Our Voting Choices
Tools to Create Graphs & Maps
Here's the question we’re most often asked in data storytelling trainings: What tools should I use to create data visualizations? See our three go-to visualization tools , along with other resources that are worth a mention.
Sign Up for the Hillcrest Advisory Email Newsletter
Many of our tips are highlighted in our email newsletter. See past copies, and sign up to receive future editions.
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Follow Us on LinkedIn
Andy regularly posts data storytelling resources on LinkedIn. Follow Andy here.
Find Data
We regularly update our catalog of data tools that government agencies, foundations, university research centers, and others make publicly available. If you need data about a community or a topic on which you’re focused, you’ll want to consult our catalog of roughly 75 data tools.
Watch Our Data Storytelling
Video Tutorials
We created a series of short videos on key topics related to communicating with data.
Listen to a Four-Part Podcast with Andy on Data Storytelling
In this podcast series through Echo & Co’s Something Forum, Andy addresses a range of topics related to data storytelling:
The open data movement
Acquiring data for rural locales
How we can find ways to measure assets in communities, not just deficits
The problems with relying just on data dashboards
And why organizations don’t necessarily need to build complex, beautiful visualizations
Measurement Guide for Community Coalitions
For one of our clients, we created a measurement guide with chapters on identifying audiences and actions for your data; finding and analyzing data; prioritizing what data to share; and communicating data findings. Although the guide is focused on coalitions doing work on local overdose prevention, many of the worksheets and case studies will be more broadly applicable.
Read Blog Posts
Over the past 15 years, Andy has compiled a range of reflections on how communities can effectively leverage data. See what’s been on Andy’s mind.
Local-Level Data to Inform
Our Voting Choices
Hillcrest Advisory built a catalog is to help individuals across the U.S. make informed election choices – both related to candidates and voter propositions. Perhaps by letting individuals reflect on facts about the communities in which they live, work, and play, they won’t be as attuned to the cacophony of political advertising, social media posts, and other messaging “noise” that proliferates in the runup to elections.