back to article Archives director calls for simplified data

The director of information policy and services at the National Archives has said the public sector needs to make information more easily accessible to people to achieve efficiency. Carol Tullo said organisations could deliver more for less if they "provide access to information and enable others to use it". "If we empower …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who the hell can't read a simple bar graph?

    If you look at a drawing which clearly has a line higher than the other and can't work out that the bigger bar has more then you should have paid attention in year fucking 2 of school.

    This county panders to much to idiots and needs to toughen up and just cast these retards out....maybe to scotland or wales...or just build a big wall around Norfolk and continue on as normal.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Unhappy

      Norfolk

      Do you go careful with your Norfolk jokes.

      Anon cause I'm at work, not because I'm in Norfolk

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      I started to agree with you after reading the first paragraph

      But then you changed that in the second, showing yourself to be a prat.

  2. Craig 12
    WTF?

    Wah?

    "She made the point that many people cannot read a simple graph or tabular material."

    If people cannot read the simple stuff already, how are they going to make it simpler? With additional GIS info?

  3. AndyS
    FAIL

    2 comments

    Firstly, it sounds like this woman's been on the managerspeak 2.0 course recently.

    Secondly, how is someone who can't read a graph going to add anything of any value to a public sector data set? And how is she suggesting it's presented? Fancy BBC style flash animations? Yay.

    If you want people to add value to your data, the raw data must be available. And guess what - it normally comes in the form of a table.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Oh no

    This is the sort of thinking that has given us the BBC weather forecast.

  5. lglethal Silver badge
    FAIL

    So wait a second...

    First she says people are too stupid to read a graph, but then suggests giving out all of the data to let someone else have a go at making it easier for people to read? Theres something easier to read then a graph? Thats news to me...

    Second, she says that the civil servants are drowning in data so they should give out more of it to the public to do what they want with? Excuse me but if there drowning in data that means theyre collecting too much of it and you know what i would like some of my civil liberties back! How about the civil servants only collect the data they actually NEED and stop collecting all the other cr*p that is only of use to scammers and totalitarians!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Just out of interest

    How many times have you seen a table used for the presentation of quantitative stuff in El Reg recently? Do the writers also all come from Norfolk, or is there some other reason for the avoidance of more appropriate methods of information presentation?

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      El Reg tables

      Um... Today? Here? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/11/bpi_stats/

      Even got round ones, whoo. :-)

  7. Rippy
    WTF?

    Without being completely compliance-based?

    She's drowning in data, and wants to GIS tag it all before giving up control on usage?

    Sounds like it's the Data Protection laws she's trying to avoid complying with.

    G.

  8. RW
    Grenade

    Edward Tufte

    This unspeakable, vile excuse for a human being needs to read Edward Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information".

    If the population at large is unable to comprehend graphs and tables, the correct cure is better schooling, not stupid attempts to yet further dumb down the data. These skills aren't rocket science, and even significantly sub-normal intelligences can learn how to read a graph or a table of information if (big if!) they are taught well and they are required to put forth the effort necessary to learn these skills. Yes, I know that among the Raving Earth Mother Brigade the concept of requiring innocent snowflakes to actually exert themselves in school and meet predetermined standards is anathema, but such is life.

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