Data Storytelling in AI-driven Strategic Communication (COM369)

COM369 introduces students and communicators to data storytelling as a core skill for media and communication professionals who must turn complex data into narratives and visuals that inspire action across organisations. Industry‑oriented data storytelling can draw insights from data, building storyboards, and designing effective visualisations, increasingly powered by AI tools and platforms, to support decision‑making and stakeholder alignment. Through critical analysis and practical application, students will be able to identify, explain and implement data storytelling and analytics within the context of public relations, journalism, social media, and other AI-driven media platforms that help an organisation achieve its organisational and communication goals. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interplay between data storytelling and media communication. They will be equipped to critically assess and apply data analysis to complex media communication settings from journalism, advertising, public relations, social media, and more. The GBA will be an authentic proposal that students can submit to clients or their supervisors in companies, or they could opt for an industry-based, communication media and professional settings.

• Introduction to Data Storytelling in Strategic Communication
• Strategic Communicator as Organisational Sense-Maker
• Narrative Structures for Data-Driven Communication
• Design Principles & Visual Grammar
• Online Research Methods and Data Sources
• Working with Data
• AI for Data Storytelling
• Personalisation: Opportunities & Challenges
• Ethics in Data Representation and Interpretation
• Power and Data Justice
• Comparative Case Studies in Data Storytelling
• Designing Data Storytelling Proposals

• Examine the role of data storytelling in strategic communication and how data, narrative, and visuals interact to influence audience understanding and decision‑making.
• Distinguish ethical and legal principles of data storytelling, including responsible handling of data, avoidance of deceptive or manipulative representations, and awareness of bias, power, and equity issues.
• Critically assess and evaluate challenges and opportunities of using data-storytelling, including AI-driven insights, personalisation and democratised data storytelling, in journalism, advertising, public relations, and social media, with implications for future communication practice.
• Examine real-world case studies of data storytelling, media practices and their broader business impact.
• Analyse the data from online and offline sources, including AI-driven platforms, to extract and design meaningful insights for an organisation’s communications needs, using appropriate visual grammar, design principles, and tools (e.g. Excel, Power BI, etc) to support persuasive communication.
• Develop critical and independent judgments on the role of data analysis and storytelling in shaping an organisation’s audience engagement, brand identity, issue management, and managerial responsibilities.