“Is data the new oil – or the new soil?”

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To close this week’s shares of enriching TED Talks that speak directly to those who are in the daily business of creating presentations, here’s a wonderful talk by data journalist David McCandless, delivered with characteristic British humour.

Not only does he explain why data needs to be visualized, he offers two vital keys:

  • Ask the right kind of question
  • Work it in the right kind of way

Watch it to understand

a) how to “combine the language of the eye (sensory details) with the language of the mind (facts/figures/statistics)

and

b) what he means when he says “Data is the new soil – and data visualization / infographics the flowers!”