{"id":241,"date":"2021-02-15T16:47:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T21:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arriablog22.wpengine.com\/the-power-of-words\/"},"modified":"2022-03-24T15:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T19:26:11","slug":"the-power-of-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words can be incredibly powerful when it comes to describing data. I remember once years ago when I was talking to an Arria client who wanted to summarize sensor-based alarms. At the time he visualized the alarms with tables and timelines, but it was very complex. So I pointed out that a narrative could summarize the key insights with a few well-chosen words, such as:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We saw a burst of XXX alerts yesterday, but nothing since.<\/p>\n

The frequency of YYY alerts is rising fast.<\/p>\n

The client was impressed, and became a convert to the \u201cpower of words\u201d to describe data!<\/p>\n

We can also see the power of words in Arria\u2019s variance analysis app, which can be seen in Arria\u2019s Sale Performance dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Actual Sales rose by $3.8M \u2026 an increase in Germany \u2026 was offset by a decrease in Canada.<\/p>\n

The word \u201coffset\u201d does a great job of helping readers build a mental model of the situation compared to simply saying that there was an increase in Germany and a decrease in Canada.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen similar things in my university work. For example, we are currently looking at using advanced NLG to generate sports stories, and I\u2019ve been impressed by the power of words in sentences such as:<\/p>\n

AAA recovered and managed to eke out a victory.<\/p>\n

BBB had a disappointing start and got worse.<\/p>\n

Words such as the above make the story come alive in a way that doesn\u2019t happen with charts and graphs!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also seen in my university work that narratives can be better decision-aids than visuals, in part because they deliver focused and powerful insights, whereas many people looking at graphs get distracted by patterns that aren\u2019t actually significant or relevant.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to keep in mind that there are a lot of people who struggle to understand data visualizations, especially when we look beyond skilled professionals. Many years ago I did a research project where we tried to communicate simple information to adults with poor \u201cbasic skills\u201d, that is, limited numeracy and literacy. Everyone we talked to understood sentences such as the above, but quite a few could not understand even the simplest graphs.<\/p>\n

And perhaps this shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. Humans have been using language and words for tens of thousands of years; some scientists believe that language is a big part of what makes us different from other species. We have evolved to be language users, so of course we are really good at using and understanding words and language.<\/p>\n

So if you are developing an NLG narrative generator using Arria Studio, take some time to identify evocative \u201ckey words\u201d that will convey insight and understanding to your readers, and try to use them in your narratives when possible. In other words, make full use of the power of words!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words can be incredibly powerful when it comes to describing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,38,13,14,29,33,37,39,9],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-arria-nlg","tag-data-interpretation","tag-natural-language-generation","tag-nlg","tag-nlg-blog","tag-prof-ehud-reiter","tag-sports","tag-studio","tag-thought-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Power of Words - NLG Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Words - NLG Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Words can be incredibly powerful when it comes to describing...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NLG Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"790\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ehud Reiter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ehud Reiter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ehud Reiter\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/31224a0ca3829f43a13781b3d7afd7e0\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Words\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":479,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Arria NLG\",\"Data Interpretation\",\"Natural Language Generation\",\"NLG\",\"NLG Blog\",\"Prof Ehud Reiter\",\"Sports\",\"Studio\",\"Thought Leadership\"],\"articleSection\":[\"NLG Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Power of Words - NLG Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg\",\"width\":790,\"height\":334,\"caption\":\"BL132-EhudWords\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/the-power-of-words\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Power of Words\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"NLG Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NLG Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/arria_logo_125x30.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/arria_logo_125x30.png\",\"width\":125,\"height\":30,\"caption\":\"NLG Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/31224a0ca3829f43a13781b3d7afd7e0\",\"name\":\"Ehud Reiter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ehud Reiter\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arria.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ehud-reiter\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Power of Words - NLG Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Power of Words - NLG Blog","og_description":"Words can be incredibly powerful when it comes to describing...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/","og_site_name":"NLG Blog","article_published_time":"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":790,"height":334,"url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ehud Reiter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ehud Reiter","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/"},"author":{"name":"Ehud Reiter","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/31224a0ca3829f43a13781b3d7afd7e0"},"headline":"The Power of Words","datePublished":"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/"},"wordCount":479,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg","keywords":["Arria NLG","Data Interpretation","Natural Language Generation","NLG","NLG Blog","Prof Ehud Reiter","Sports","Studio","Thought Leadership"],"articleSection":["NLG Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/","url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/","name":"The Power of Words - NLG Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-15T21:47:09+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-24T19:26:11+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/BL132-EhudWords-1.jpg","width":790,"height":334,"caption":"BL132-EhudWords"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/the-power-of-words\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Power of Words"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/","name":"NLG Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"NLG Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/arria_logo_125x30.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/arria_logo_125x30.png","width":125,"height":30,"caption":"NLG Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/31224a0ca3829f43a13781b3d7afd7e0","name":"Ehud Reiter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b2b51dd76543bef69265c1b1b8d995a0132ea071f50988250c00fdea10b15bf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ehud Reiter"},"url":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/author\/ehud-reiter\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arria.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}