Half-Day Afternoon Workshops (#8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
#9 - Displaying Your Data: Plain Figures for Communication
A half-day, basic/intermediate workshop facilitated
by:
Melissa Spore, Extension Division, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
SK
Your graphics may be glamorous and your argument astonishing, but does
anybody understand your numbers? This workshop teaches how to make numeric
information accurate, vivid and memorable. It offers principles for visual
display of numeric information and practical advice for choosing between
tables and graphs, selecting among graph types, and avoiding common errors
in design. The recommendations can be tailored to print, web-based, and
presentation software, for public and specialized audiences. Content creation
software such as Excel and Word has increased the display of figures and
numerical information; however, accuracy and clarity are hampered by poor
standards or lack of standards. Using principles of Plain Figures, this
workshop addresses issues of purpose, design, and audience comprehension.
The research and rationale behind recommended practices will be discussed
throughout the workshop, and emphasis is on the practical, rather than
scholarly. This is not IT training, nor a statistics class, but a communications
workshop. The book, Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts (Bigwood and
Spore, Oxford University Press 2003) will be supplied to all workshop
registrants. Participants will analyze and apply principles of plain figures
and data presentation to numerous examples and exercises. Questions and
discussion will be encouraged and participants are invited to bring their
own data examples.
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