Data Storytelling with Altair and AI

Since ancient times, humans have told stories to transmit values and communicate with their fellow humans. The power of a story is enormous. It involves those who lis- ten and excites those who tell. A very strong bond is established between the narrator and the listener, which goes beyond the content of the story itself. For this, every story- teller should know their audience and adapt stories according to their audience’s val- ues, traditions, and culture. The power of a data-based story should be even stronger because it is anchored in the evidence provided by the data. It’s impossible to disbelieve a story based on data. Personally, I have always loved stories, although to tell the truth, when I was little, my mother didn’t tell me many. It was my grandmother who told me ancient stories of imaginary characters—some even terrifying—who invited my childhood imagination to create a world entirely apart. I have always had a passion for stories, and I started writing them when I was very young. I remember my first story, written when I was seven. Over the years, I have continued to write short stories, poems, and short novels. More than 15 years ago, I began my adventure in software development and data sci- ence applied to research and university education of students. I developed a great love for data and the people behind it, as well as a passion for software development. At the same time, I continued to write stories, poems, and short stories in the brief moments I found to dedicate to my hobbies and passions. Then, a few years ago, I had a flash of genius, thanks to my boss, Andrea Marchetti. I will never tire of thanking him for helping me combine data with stories. From this discovery, my passion for data storytelling was born. In my own small way, I had the same experience as Steve Jobs, who, as a young man, had learned the art of calligra- phy in a university course and then put it aside. Ten years later, it all returned to him: Jobs designed the first Macintosh and used the information he learned in calligraphy class to design the first computer with beautiful typography. Jobs said, “You can’t con- nect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” (Excerpt from Jobs’s speech on June 12, 2005, to the recent graduates of Stanford University.) And so it happened to me, too: I combined my passion for data with my passion for stories. My hope is that you, too, can connect your dots and that by reading this book, you can find ideas for tackling your daily work in a new and exciting way.