Show a Story, not Data

Jan 25, 2010

When giving presentations, scientists typically don’t have trouble making their complicated work seem…well, complicated. The challenge is in making your message clear and audience appropriate.

Example:
How does life expectancy at birth and the number of children a woman has change by country over a period of one hundred years?

I felt a table with 8 point font coming on, but instead was amazed by this.
Hint: Hit play

Would making a graph like this be helpful in crystallography? Perhaps showing PDB entries by country over the last 60 years? I realize this tool may not be the most useful to our community, but it’s helpful in the sense that it inspires creativity. I now find myself contemplating how I can present research in a way that is clear, concise and creative. How can I help my data tell a story?

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    4 Awesome Insights so far | Have Your Say!

    1. olchemist
      January 25th, 2010 at 11:15 AM #

      There is a TED talk given by the developer:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w

    2. rpg
      January 26th, 2010 at 6:14 AM #

      Fascinating graph. That is brilliant, thanks. (And you’re completely right-the best talks are those with a narrative.)

    3. Sean
      January 27th, 2010 at 11:39 AM #

      @olchemist: I saw the talk, but didn’t have audio when creating the post so didn’t watch it

      Thanks for the link and for stopping by its been awhile ;)

      @rpg: it is an amazing tool.

    4. olchemist
      January 28th, 2010 at 1:38 PM #

      @sean: I am always around, but since I am no protein crystallographer I have nothing to say about amino acids and such ;o)

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