Visual storytelling enhances knowledge dissemination in biomedical science

Research findings in biomedical science are often summarized in statistical plots and sophisticated data presentations. Such visualizations are challenging for people who lack the appropriate scientific background or even experts who work in other areas. Scientists have to maximize knowledge dissemination by improving the communication of their findings to the public. To address the need for compelling and successful information visualizations in biomedical science, we propose a new theoretical framework for Visual Storytelling and illustrate its potential application through two visual stories, one on vaccine safety and one on cancer immunotherapy. In both examples, we rely on solid data and combine multiple media (photographs, illustrations, choropleth maps, tables, graphs, and charts) with text to create powerful visual stories for the selected target audiences. If fully validated, the proposed theory may shed light into non-traditional techniques for building visual stories and further the agenda of creating compelling information visualizations.