Making your numbers tell a story
President Barack Obama’s administration yesterday announced its draft plans for new financial regulations. Given the financial meltdown of the last twelve months, it is safe to assume this is some pretty important stuff. However, even economists who’s job is to comprehend and comment on the same, can’t all agree what it means. In case you feel I am being harsh, here’s a lovely excerpt from the actual document, thanks to Felix Salmon of Reuters.
- The United States will work to implement the updated ICRG peer review process and work with partners in the FATF to address jurisdictions not complying with international AML/CFT standards.
Talk about failing to communicate simply and clearly. In Felix’s words,
- “In a nutshell: If you thought this was going to make the current horribly-complicated system of financial regulation less complicated, think again.”
As someone who spends much of his day, when not watching others’ mind-numbing presentations, creating content myself (with Open Office Impress), I have come to worship the word of Edward Tufte and admire the work of the folks at CommonCraft and Presentation Zen. The President’s men and the rest of us could learn a lesson or two on how to make our words and numbers tell a gripping story. Prof Hans Rosling’s video below, is living proof that with a little effort we can all do it!
How often have we stared at a table of data or a graph unable to make head or tail of it? Professor Hans Rosling, global health expert, shows how our world view is distorted by pre-conceived notions. He transforms complex data into a riveting story on the social changes that are taking place in the world. Click here to see the video.
This article appeared in the June issue of ZEBU Crossing, our monthly newsletter. To subscribe to ZEBU Crossing, fill the form at the top right of this page.
Posted in Information design, StatisticsTags: social development, video, visualization