Workshop #9

Pre-Conference Workshops - May 16th, 2004

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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