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Transcript of TimeFlow tutorial
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 1/11
TimeFlowisatoolcreatedforreportersbyFernandaViegasandMartinWattenbergofFlowingMedia
Inc.thatmanageschronologiesandtimelines.Itwasenvisionedasawayto:
• Keepnotesonlong-runningstories,suchascourtcases,bankruptciesorpoliceinvestigations
thatoftenrequireremindingreadersandviewersoftheeventssofarorthehistoryofthecase.
• Compiledisparatematerialforprojectsinawaythatmighthelpseerelationshipsandeventsin
anewlight.
• Organizeinformationfornarrativesandreconstructionsofevents.
Thekeyfeaturesincludetheabilitytozoominandoutonanyperiodoftime,tofilterandcolorcode
events,andtoedityournotesin-placeorimportthemfromaspreadsheet.Itwon’tautomateyourdata
entry,butitshouldhelpyouorganizeandvisualizethenotesyou’retakinganyway.
Gettingstarted
Takealookattheinstallationinstructionson
theTimeFlowgithubwikiathttp://wiki.github.com/FlowingMedia/TimeFlo
w/download-and-install-timeflow.Youcan
installthisintoyourowndocumentsfolderor
ontoaflashdrive.
TheDeepwaterHorizonoilspill
TogetstartedwithTimeFlow,openthe
Exampledatasetcalled“DeepwaterHorizon
Spill”,accessed
fromthemenu
under“Examples”:
Lookingatrawdata
Beforediggingin,takealookatwhatdatais
includedinthistimeline.Choosethe“List”tabatthetopofthemainscreen:
Yourlistwillbesortedchronologicallyno
matterwhatordertheywereenteredin.
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 2/11
First,noticethedates.Unlikeothertools,you
canuseapproximatedatesinTimeFlow--it
handlesanddisplaysdatesenteredasyears,
months,daysordateandtime.
Anentrywithbothastartandenddateis
shownasaspanandastartdatealoneis
representedas
theeventdate:
ThereareseveraltypesofdatainTimeFlow.
Thekeyoneis,ofcourse,adate/timevalueto
placethedataonthetimeline.A“URL”type
linkstosourcematerial;a“list”isasmallsetof
valuesthatmightapplytoasinglerecord,such
asthepeopleororganizationsinvolvedinan
eventorsubjecttagsusedforcolorsand
filtering.(Detailsarecoveredinthesectionon
“creatingyourowntimeline”)
Youcanalsoviewdatainthetimelineitself.
Anytimeyoumouseoverapoint,youseeallof
thedataforthatpoint:
Gettingorientedonthetimeline
Switchbacktothetimelineviewusingthe
controlsatthetopofthescreen.Therearefoursectionstothetimelinealongwiththemain
window:
Thistimelinedefaultstotheentirespanofthe
data,includingthe1990lawholdingowners
responsibleforoilspills.
Thesmallsectionatthebottom
isoneofseveralwaysto
navigatethroughtime.Clickonayear,monthordaytozoominonthatperiod.
Becausewe’relookingattheBPoilspill,the
firststepmightbetozoomin2010.
Youmightwanttozoominalittlefurtherto
justmonthsofApril–June2010.Youcando
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 3/11
thisthreeways:dragyourmousearoundthe
pointsyouwanttoseeinthelargewindow
...ornarrowthebandonthesmallnavigation
paneonthebottomof
thetimelinebyclicking
anddraggingitsedge:
Finally,youcandouble-clickinanareaofthe
maintimelinewindowtozoominonthat
period.(Itdoesn’tworkwelluntilyoustart
narrowinginonaperiodofinterest.)
Youcanscrollthroughyourtimelineby
draggingtheyellowareainthenavigationpane
atthebottom.
Controlsinatimeline
Therearetwoareasofcontrolsinthetimeline
view.Inone,youcontrolhowtheviewis
displayed.Intheother,youcontrolthelabels,
colorsandgroupings.
Lookforthemostbasiccontrolsintheupper
leftpanel.Itchangeswitheachviewofyour
data(calendar,timelineorgraph):
Ifyouzoomedintoofar,youcanzoomouta
littleorallthewayusingtheZoomcontrol.
Hereyoucanalsochoosehowyourtimelineis
displayed.“Diagonal”isgoodforsmalltimelines
likethese,sinceitshowsasmuchtextaspossiblelikeasetofstairs:
Forlargertimelines,thisviewsometimesmakes
youthinkapatternexistswhenitdoesn’t.Then,
a“loose”viewmightbebetter:
Foraverylargetimeline,youmightusethe
“graph”viewtohelpyounavigatetoareaswith
alotofentries.
Thelowerleftsectionofthecontrolsstaythe
samenomatterwhatviewyouhaveofyour
data:
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 4/11
(Dotsizeisreservedfordatathathasnumber
valuesinit,suchascampaigncontributions.In
thiscase,ifwehadthesizeoftheoilslick,we
mightchoosetouseit.)
Tryplayingaroundwithit,envisioningvarious
stories.Inthisview,allofthegroupshavebeen
removedandwe’veselectedthered“BP”actor
tosee,incontext,whatBPhaddoneduringthe
spill:
Allofthepointsarestillvisible,buttheones
notselectedaregrayedouttohighlightyour
story.
Calendarview
Sometimeslookingatacalendariseasierthana
largetimeline.WhenyouclickonCalendaron
thetopnavigationmenu,italwaystakesyouto
thefirstpointinyourtimeline,inthiscasethe
1990lawholdingoilcompaniesresponsiblefor
spills.
Scrolldowntoamoreinterestingtime:
Thecalendarkeepsthesettingsyoumadeon
thetimeline,soitishighlightingtheBPactions.
Daysinwhichtherearenoeventsaregrayed
out.
Noticehowtheoptionson
theupperleftofyour
screenhavechanged.For
largetimelines,thisview
ofthedotswillshowyou
themost.Butforsmall
oneslikethis,youmight
wanttoseethelabels.
Sometimesyou’llseehalfadot,oradotwith
morethanonecolor.Thatmeansit’sgotmore
thanonecategorychosen:
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 5/11
Practicequestionsforviewing
timelinesandcalendars:
1. WhendidPresidentObamafirstvisit
thespillsite?Wherewashetheday
beforehisvisit?1
2. DidBPexecutivesseeappearbefore
Congressbeforeorafteroilbegan
washingashore?
3. WhendidtheInteriorDepartment’s
MineralsManagementService,or
MMS,proposestrictersafetyruleson
offshorerigs?
(Ineachofthesequestions,zoominginandout,selectingdifferentactorstohighlightincolor
andswitchingbetweencalendarandtimeline
viewswillhelpyouseepatternseasily.)
Filtering
Onceatimelinegrowstomorethanafew
dozenevents,thereissimplytoomuchto
digestinonesitting.Thatiswhenthetool’s
filteringoptionscomeintoplay.
Forthisexample,we’lluseadifferentexample
dataset:theObama-First100Days:
1Note:Inearlyreleasesofthesoftware,therewas
anerrorinthesampledatashowingObamainthe
GulfCoastonApr.28.ThatdateisreallyMay28,
whichwascorrectedinlaterreleases.
Thistimelineopensuptoasliceofthefirst100
days,visibleonthebottomnavigationview:
Zoomoutto100%andtakealookatthe“global
controls”onthelefttogetyourselforiented.
Youmaynothavenoticedit,butthereis
anotherindicatorontheleftmenu:
Thistellsyouthatalloftheitemsinthedataset
arebeingshown–thereisnoactivefilter.
Rightnow,thedataisbeingshownbytheplace
oftheevent–theWhiteHouse,D.C.or
somewhereelse.Themostfrequentplacesare
listedfirstonthelist.
Togetadifferentviewofthedata,tryswitching
toaviewthatshows“tags”withnogroupings,
thenhighlight“stimulus”:
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 6/11
Whilethereisstillwaytoomuchtolookat,it
becomeseasiertoseethepatternsofthe
stimulusbill,whichhesignedonFeb.17.
Switchtothe“Filter”viewusingthetabonthe
topleft:
Atfirst,allyouseeisanemptysearchbox.But
youcanaddinanyofyourcategoriesfromthe
datasetunderthemenuitem“Filters”:
i
Add“tags”,“who”and“entrytype”and“location”tothefilterlistbycheckingthemoff
onthismenu:
(Youmaystillhaveacolorhighlightshown.If
youdo,flipbacktothetimelineandclearallof
thoseselectionsbyclickingonthemagain.)
Nowyouhavealistofitemsyoucanchoose
frominthelefthand
column:
Thecolormapreminds
youhowtoreadyourtimeline.
Thesetagsweremade
upasthedatawasbeing
typedin.Theyarenot
mutuallyexclusive–an
entrycouldbothbea
“reversal”fromprevious
policyANDan“energy”
action.
Let’sfirstlookathow
quicklyObamareversed
policiesoftheBushadministration,andwhat
thosefirstactionswere:
(Ifyourexamplelooksdifferent,flipbacktothe
displayviewandswitchitto“Diagonal”onthe
upperleftpanel.)
It’sprettysimplenowtolookthroughthe
eventsthatmarkedareversal.Nowtrylooking
atthestimulusprogram:
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 7/11
Thisismuchbiggerandmightneedmore
filtering.Let’slookjustattripstakento
promotethestimulus:
(Note:thecountsyouseenexttoeachitemare
unfiltered counts.Intheexampleabove,there
are22entriesforalltrips,notjustthoseforthe
stimulus.)
Thisnarrowsyourview
tojustnineitems:
Youcanseethatthebetteryoutagyourdata,
theeasieritwillbetouselateron.
Finally,youcandotheequivalentofafull-text
searchforkeywordsorphrases:
Regularexpressions(notcasesensitive)arealso
available,butnotdocumented,inthesearch
box.Inthiscase,itsearchesforMichelle,Sasha
orMalia.
Editingatimeline
Thereareseveralwaystoedityourtimeline.
Theeasiestwayisonthetimelineitself.
Tofollowthisexample,clearallofyourfilters
ontheObamafirst100days’examplefrom
eithertheDisplayorFilterview:
I’vealso
turnedoffthe
groupingand
colorstogeta
cleanviewof
thetimeline,
andnarrowed
myviewto
lateJanuary:
Toedit,right-clickonapointinthetimeline:
Youcandeletetheevent,editit,oraddanother
onthesameday.(Ifyoudidn’tselectanexisting
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 8/11
event,you’djusthavetheopportunitytoadd
one.)
Ifyouchoose“Edit,”you’llgetaformtofillout:
Inthiscase,wemightwanttoaddpeopleto
thisNationalPrayerservice.(Ifyou’vedefined
yourdatafieldasalist,thewaythisoneis,
separateitemswithacomma.)
Addingalotofeventsisprobablyeasierfrom
thecalendarview:
TheadvantageofusingtheseviewsovertheList
andTableviewsisthatTimeFlowkeepsyour
placeasyouedit.Ontheotherviews,youwill
havetoscrollbacktowhereyouleftoff.
Creatingatimeline
Ifyouhaven’talreadytypedyourinformation
intoaspreadsheet,onewaytocreateatimeline
istostartfromscratch.Inthemenu,choose
File,NewfromTemplate,tochoosesome
existingsetups.Youwillprobablyusethe
template“Eventswithstartandenddates”as
yourmodel.
Addfields–thekindsofinformationyouwant
toenter,suchasalabelforthetimeline,along
descriptionortags,under“Edit,”“Addfield”.
Addrecords–anentryinthetimeline–inthe
sameway,ordirectlyonthetimelineor
calendaritself.
Importing
Rightnow,importingfromaspreadsheet
replacesalloftheexistingdata–thereisn’ta
waycurrentlytoaddtoyourdataset.
Importingfromaspreadsheetisdonetwo
ways:bycopyingandpasting,orbysavingasa
text(“TSV”or“CSV”)file.Mostoften,you’lljust
copyandpaste.
Onetrickinusingspreadsheetsasyourdata
entryistodefineyourdatefieldsas“text”
ratherthan“General”types.Thereasonisthat
TimeFlowismoreforgivingthanExcelinitsdate
formatsandtheprecisionitexpects,soitcan
handleinformationthatcan’tbewellsortedor
representedonaspreadsheet:
Togetthedatainto
TimeFlow,selectallofyourcellsandcopy.This
datawillreplacewhateveryoualreadyhave
open,soconsiderstartinganewtimelinetomakesureyoudon’tloseanyotherwork.
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 9/11
Selectthetextintheimportbox,thenpaste:
Onceyouimport,TimeFlowwillguesswhat
kindsoffieldsyou’veimportedandgiveyou
somebasicstatisticsaboutthem:
We’llwanttochangethoseguessesinsomeof
thesecases.The“actors”areusedastagsforfiltering–eachrowhasalistofactorsinthe
event,andwewantthemtobesplitupwhen
theyareimported.Change“text”to“list”when
youwantTimeFlowtotreatitthatway:
Dothesamethingwiththe“tags”field.
Thisdataalsohasacolumnforthedirectlinkto
storiesthatactedasthesourceforthe
information.TimeFlowcorrectlyguesseditwas
aURLfield,butitmightnothave.
Bestpractices
Therearealsoafewbestpracticesforreporting
withtimelinesbuiltintothisdata.First,thereis
asourceforeachrow.Thisdatasetwasbuiltfromnewsreports,soitsimplyrecordswhich
newssourceandthenthelinktothestory.
Thereisalsoafieldcalled“workstatus”,which
sayswhetherornotthedatahasbeenfact-
checkedenoughforpublication.Thatway,you
canfilterforonlyinformationyouneedto
check,oralternativelyonlyinformationyoufeel
comfortablepublishing.
Italsohasan“ID”rownumber,whichhelpswhenyouwanttosortintheorderyouentered
thedata.Forinstance,youmayhave
accumulatedmanypointsfromasingle
documentspreadoveralongperiodoftime.
Thiswillhelpyougetbacktothewayyousawit
originallyifyouhavetofact-check.
Onceyou’rehappywithyourdecisions,clickthe
“importthis”button.
Youmaystillhavetochecksomedefaultsettings.Inthiscase,thedatahadfieldsthat
werenamed“start”and“end,”whichTimeFlow
recognizesasthekeydatefieldsinyourdata.
Thesearetheonesthatwillbeusedtoplace
thepointsonthetimeline.Butyoumighthave
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 10/11
othernames,andyoumighthavemultipledate
fields.
Thefieldsusedforyourtimelineare
determinedunder“Edit,”“Setdatefields”
menu:
Inthiscase,weneedtoaddthe“end”dateto
useastheendingperiodofaspanoftime:
Notice,too,thatthereisatleastonerecord
thatdidn’thaveagooddate:itshowsthat97
percentofthe“start”datesweredefined.This
isagoodwaytochecktomakesureyourdata
wascomplete:
Oneoftheeasiestwaystocheckyourdataisto
gotothefilters,thenaddthenew,“Unparsed
fields”fieldtoyourlist.
Youcanselectallofthenon-missing
“UNPARSEDFIELDS”tolookatthebaddataon
thelistview:
Inthiscase,
TimeFlow
didn’t
understand
the“Sept”
abbreviation
forSept.14,
2009.Youcan
justfixitinthe
Listview:
Onceit’sfixed,youcanerasetheentryinthe
“unparsedfields”sothatyouonlyseetheones
thatarestillproblems.
Youcanchecktomakesurenoneofthedates
aremissingbycheckingthe“Summary”tabat
thetopright:
Exporting
Rightnow,thereisnowaytoprintatimelineor
itsentries.Togetasimplelist,usethe“File,”
“ExportHTML”togetafulllistingthatcanbe
printedinWordoranothertexteditor.Exporta
“TSV”toimportintoExceloranother
spreadsheetprogram.(Thisstandsfor“tab-
separatedvalues,”andwillbeimportedasa
textfileinyourspreadsheetordatabase
program.)
8/3/2019 TimeFlow tutorial
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/timeflow-tutorial 11/11
FAQ
Q:Mytimelinedoesn’tshowup.Thedatesseem
toallbethere,buttheentriesarein1969.
A:Checkthemenuitem“Setdatefields”to
makesureitunderstandswhichcolumnsyou
wanttouseasyourdates.Itshouldguess,but
sometimesitdoesn’t.
Q:Notallofmydatagotimported.Thereare
severalrowsmissing.
A:Onetypeofentryisparticularlydifficultto
parse:thosewithlongnarrativesthatendwith
aquotationmark.Gobacktoyouroriginaldata
andaddaspaceaftertheendoftheentry.
Q:My“list”fieldsdidn’tseparateout.Theyare
stillbeingshownasonelongpieceoftext.
A:Checkyourdelimiter.Itwillseparatebased
oncommas.