Last month, I attended an Editors’ Association of Canada meeting in Saskatoon for a training session on the ‘Fundamentals of Communicating Numerical Information”.

Melissa Spore, an instructional designer at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts (Oxford University Press, 2003), was a delightful presenter and gave me a lot to think about.

The presentation covered the core concepts within her book and generated several “Well, duh, why didn’t I think of that before?” moments for me. Many of the rules proposed by Bigwood and Spore are glaringly obvious when you stop and think about them, but unfortunately it is all too easy to ignore the obvious. Isn’t it funny how frequently we discount KISS (that’s Keep It Simple Silly!) principles especially in our writing?

Looking back at project I have authored and edited over the years, I am ashamed to say that I too have broken some rules. But I’ll do better now, I promise.

If you have a chance, I would highly recommend adding Bigwood and Spore’s book to your reference bookshelf or requesting it for your library! (ISBN 0-19-860722-9) I’ve added some links to more information and places to purchase the book below:

Bigwood and Spore’s website: Plain Figures
Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts at Amazon.ca