Information Transfer

It would seem that besides wanting to be free, it seems that information has trouble presenting itself in a way that can be easily assimilated. There are a lot of ways of presenting data:

• Lists
• Maps
• Tables
  
• Graphs
• Diagrams
• Paragraphs

The question is though what works best. The context is an obvious starting point. It does not make much sense to use a paragraph when noting which items need to be bought at the store. Lists may be a convenient way to capture a large amount of information, but do they enable easy information transfer?

It seems that the easiest means of passing information on to another person is to present to them in a standard form. A colloquial conversational type of document is more likely to transfer information than any of the list-based mediums.

Lists are hard. They take a lot of effort to process adequately and the longer the list the worse this gets. This is because there is no flow of ideas. My personal experience is that I skim lists and go back to them and treat them as independent entities. Lists cannot contain information that is critical to the view being expressed.

Tables may be an efficient way of consolidating information. The problem is that they can't be read. The association between the various cells is via the header of the column and the row. There is a discontinuity.

Information is transferred by the story it creates as it moves through the various stages. The critical feature of the story is the progress. I can't say for sure, but I'd recommend a growth in complexity of the topic as the story progresses. This builds on the information already imparted.