Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service, the show which gives you

your weekly dose of data all about the world and everyday life.

I'm Tim Halford.

Tables, charts, graphs, even animations.

Data visualization is all the rage, but where does that leave the old-fashioned virtue

of listening to things, using your ears?

Some data visualization experts are starting to explore the benefits of turning pictures

into sound, including this fellow.

I'm Alan Smith, I'm Data Visualisation Editor at the Financial Times.

It's only natural that as a financial times journalist, Alan was going to get his teeth

into a meaty slab of pure finance, the yield curve.

So, the yield curve, Alan.

Economics geeks like me get very excited about the yield curve.

Tell me what is it and why anyone would care.

Well, a lot of people would be really interested in anything that could tell them when there

might be a recession coming.

And that's one of the things that this yield curve is held by some to be able to do.

So, what it is is actually something quite simple.

It's just a chart that shows you the yields of different government bonds of different lengths.

So, for example, if I want to lend money to a government, let's say the British government,

I could lend the money for 30 days, I could lend the money for three months, I could lend

the money for a year, or 10 years, or 30 years.

...