A five-element storytelling framework that turns 300GB of climate data into a story that drives action
300GB story: how to inspire action when data isn’t enough | Config 2026 · Mo Jola
20 min total·Actually worth watching closely: ~11 min·3 must-watch clips
- 0:11 – 3:00Listen
Opening: why data doesn't move people
Opens on 300GB of Pika climate data to argue that data by itself has no value — people act only once they can make sense of it and care about it.
Data informs, but stories inspire — when people care about the story, they care about the data behind it
A purely spoken argument with no key visuals; catching the core claim is enough▶ Jump to 0:11Speaker · Mo Jola - 3:00 – 7:15Watch
Setting and character: casting the Pika
Starts with where the story takes place, who it's for and why anyone should care, arguing you design the experience rather than just the visualization; casts the Pika, a climate indicator species, and trains an ML model on ~30 years of sightings plus historical climate.
Ask who is affected by this data before you pick a protagonist, and build the context that makes a number mean something
At 387s the predicted 2100 habitat maps from the ML model appear — the key visual for following the modeling logic▶ Jump to 3:00Speaker · Luke - 7:16 – 10:20Watch
Plot: make time visible
A snapshot doesn't move anyone — show how things change over time, because that's where cause and consequence live; the shifting habitat is rendered in three dimensions.
Cause and effect live in the change; make time visible and you have a plot
The 3D view at 541s reveals the habitat climbing to higher elevations — a deliberate storytelling choice you have to see▶ Jump to 7:16Speaker · Luke - 10:20 – 12:20Watch
Conflict: thinking in systems
A single metric gives shallow insight and tension shows up in relationships; separate habitat models for the Pika's food source and its predator, the fox, show how local loss endangers the whole ecosystem.
Tension lives in the relationships, not any single metric — map what connects to what
The layered multi-species habitats at 640s make the chain reaction visible; the visual hits harder than the narration▶ Jump to 10:20Speaker · Serinda - 12:20 – 14:18Watch
Call to action and the interactive tool
Don't just show what happened — show the choices and where each one leads; the same data yields current, worst-case and best-case futures, all folded into one explorable tool.
The only variable is the choice we make today — put that choice in front of people
The full tool demo at 827s ties all five elements together — the working model of the whole methodology▶ Jump to 12:20Speaker · Serinda - 14:19 – 18:15Listen
Generalizing: blood supply and NASA
Carries the five elements over to US blood inventory (spot shortages earlier, coordinate faster, cut waste) and to data visualization work at NASA, turning what arrives daily into a story.
The underlying data didn't change — what changed was how people understood it
Spoken cases backing the framework's generality, mostly slides; following the logic is enough▶ Jump to 14:19Speaker · Isaac - 18:18 – 19:56Listen
Wrap-up: the playbook to take home
Pulls setting, character, plot, conflict and call to action back together into a reusable checklist for any dataset.
With a new dataset, ask first: where is the story, who is it for, why should anyone care — then design the experience
A purely spoken close; good for turning the five elements into your own checklist as you listen▶ Jump to 18:18Speaker · Mo Jola