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.



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



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:



(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:



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”:



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:



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



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.



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



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.)



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.

Documents

TimeFlow tutorial