In this episode, we’re going one step further. We are looking at where those patterns come to life in the Visualizer. Let’s start with the basics. What is the Visualizer?
The Visualizer is Sprockler’s interactive reporting environment. It’s where all the story data including the self-signified meaning behind it, becomes visible. It lets you explore patterns across hundreds of stories. This goes beyond numbers and gives you the lens of how people made sense of their own experiences.

So this is where the bipoles and tripoles show up?
Yes. Each story can be visualized here through a bipole which is our term for a slider, or a tripole, our term for a triangle with three corners. You can see, for instance, where stories land between “individual action” and “collective action” on a bipole, or how people’s experiences distribute across “institutions,” “community members,” and “outside funders” on a tripole.

Can users filter what they’re looking at?
Yes, that’s a key feature. For example, if you’ve asked respondents to share the emotional tone of their story, say, from strongly positive to strongly negative, you can filter for just one of those options. The Visualizer doesn’t recalculate the data, but it color-codes the patterns so you can see how that particular response is distributed in the triangle.

So I might look at the pattern where strongly negative stories show up on a tripole?
Correct. That pattern might reveal that those negative stories are clustering more so around ‘collective action’ for example. It gives you insight that’s both human and pattern-driven. You can also click any story dot in the tripole letting you read the story that shows up at that spot. You can get a sense of why someone might have reported that their story was strongly negative.

That is powerful. What if I’ve collected hundreds of stories and I want to focus on one group at a time like community group leaders separately from volunteers?
Great question. You can create two different online reports separating the community group leaders on one dashboard and the volunteers in another one. Maybe you want to more easily showcase the differences and the similarities between these two groups. This will easily allow you to do this.

So this tool allows multiple online reports for the same set of story data collected?
Yes, in fact, you could do this if you wanted to view different time periods based on when the data was collected. It would give you the ability to visualize changes over time and also continue to look at the patterns in a variety of ways.

Then the tool supports pattern recognition, creates segmented views, and supports story capture over time, but also encourages exploration?
Yes, absolutely. One of the strengths of the Visualizer is that it’s not just a reporting tool, it’s more of a Swiss army knife with multiple ways you can view and work with the story data. It’s a true sensemaking tool. People use it to ask questions, explore hypotheses, and challenge assumptions. And because every data point links back to the original story, you’re never far from the voice behind the pattern.

That’s a really unique way to approach insight. It’s visual, but it stays grounded.
Exactly. It invites curiosity. You don’t just look at the data, you interact with it, and through that your perception changes and you learn. From there you take these insights and move to action.

Great! That really brings the Visualizer to life.