Informing the Nation: Official
Statistics and Communication
Dr Siu-Ming Tam
Australian Bureau of Statistics
17 September, 2010
ABS Canberra
Learning from musicians
“ABS Presents …….”
“If Australia were only …”
Florence
Nightingale
•
• Pioneered
the use of
charts to tell
stories
We do not want impressions.
We want facts.
You complain that your report would
be dry. The drier the better.
Statistics should be the driest of all
reading - William Farr, RG of Births and Deaths, Great Britian, 1861
Farr’s doctrine
Nightingale’s doctrine
Pyramidisation
A tale of two cities
Visploration
Key points
• Statistics need to be communicated
• New tools to be used to tell stories
include:
–
–
–
–
“ABS presents”
“If Australia were only ….”
“Pyramidisation”
“Visploration”
– Further information
– www.abs.gov.au/betaworks
– Siu-Ming.Tam@abs.gov.au
Thank you!
Visploration
AustralianTrade Data revised