Wanderlust and Words

Use Numbers to Enhance not Disguise the Facts A lot of people are intimidated by numbers. As writers, we know we need to include data/statistics in our material, but we’re not really comfortable with them so they’re added hastily without a great deal of thought or understanding. We add a colourful chart because it will brighten up the page, or we stick in a few statistics. Premium on Numbers In Hungry for Numbers, Allergic to Data , Steven DeMaio says, “In publishing circles today, there’s a premium on numbers. Editors, writers, and journalists often seek to crystallize or legitimize a story with an eye-popping statistic that will become the sound bite or “takeaway” of the piece. Yet most of these professionals have an aversion to examining the underlying data developed by expert authors or sources. Sometimes proudly asserting “I’m a word person,” they soil their hands with numbers just enough to make the story work but refuse to learn what the data really mean. In many cases, they ...

Infographics Graphic artists are awesome. They can turn a mundane piece of information into a dramatic statement. Here are two great examples. Airspace Rebooted From ItoWorld - A visualisation of the northern European airspace returning to use after being closed due to volcanic ash. Airspace Rebooted CO2 from ItoWorld on Vimeo . Hockey Night in Canada From Flowing Data – Canada: the country that pees together stays together. As writers, we don’t always have the resources to produce such amazing infographics. But we can always consider the visual impact of our work. See Also:   Communicating with Numbers #1

Free resource materials to help you communicate more effectively are now available on my website : Plain Language Tips – for business writing that is easy to read and easy to understand Dynamic Tables and Graphs – to help you communicate with numbers Effective PowerPoint Presentations – to visually enhance your public speaking Resumes – a series of articles to help you prepare a killer resume

It’s Hard to Compare Shapes. Which piece of the pie is bigger – and by how much? It’s hard to say because the human eye finds it very difficult to judge how much bigger one shape is than another. Pie charts and three-dimensional shapes may look attractive, but they won’t do a good job of presenting your data because the viewer won’t be able to tell how much bigger one quantity is than another. On the other hand, a simple bar graph makes it easy for readers to compare one line length to the next. See Also: Dynamic Tables and Graphs