Same numbers, three audiences
A school has one set of attendance figures. The head wants a one-page summary. The parents want a simple picture. The governors want to explore the numbers themselves.
One set of data, three ways to show it. The right way depends on who is looking.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Visualisation | showing data as a picture so that people can see it quickly |
| Infographic | a picture that mixes a few numbers, drawings and short words to tell one story |
| Chart | a drawing of numbers, such as a bar chart, a line graph or a pie |
| Dashboard | one screen that shows the main numbers, often updated live |
| Audiovisual | using sound and moving pictures, such as a video with a voice |
| Virtual reality | VR: a headset that shows a fully made-up world around you |
| Augmented reality | AR: extra information drawn over the real world, on a phone or glasses |
| Extended reality | XR: the short name for VR and AR together |
| Audience | the people who will look at your work |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can name the main ways to communicate data and say where each one fits a business and its audience.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Five ways to communicate data
| Method | What it is | Best for | Be careful |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infographic | A picture that tells one story | The public, posters, social media | Short on detail |
| Graph or chart | Numbers drawn so patterns show | Trends and comparisons | The wrong type can mislead |
| Dashboard | Main numbers on one live screen | Managers who watch every day | Too many dials confuse |
| Audiovisual | Video and sound with a voice-over | Explaining a process or a story | Hard to edit and to check |
| Extended reality | VR or AR over a place or an object | Training, tours, seeing data in place | Costs a lot, needs equipment |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Visualisation: infographics and charts
Visualisation shows data as a picture. An infographic tells one story with a few numbers and drawings. A chart shows many numbers so that patterns appear.
Choose the chart by the question. A line shows change over time. Bars compare groups. Building them is taught in the lessons on presenting results.
Charts are made in real tools
Tip
A chart tool is not available in this platform, so we do not build charts here. We draw text bars with code, and we choose chart types by reasoning.
Run it: a text bar chart
select day, items, repeat('#', items) as bar
from sales
order by items desc;Dashboards, sound and extended reality
A dashboard puts the main numbers on one screen. It suits people who check often.
Audiovisual work uses sound and moving pictures, such as a short video that explains a result. Extended reality (XR) has two forms. Virtual reality (VR) replaces your view with a made-up world. Augmented reality (AR) adds information to the real world, for example numbers shown over a machine.