Narrative vs. Tabular Display

I am wondering if anyone has any experience using narrative in place
of a more traditional (tabular) approach for displaying data on the
web.

I need to display some basic information regarding an employee.
Displaying the information in a table might end up looking something
like this:
First Name: Jane
Last Name: Doe
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Hire Date: 01/01
Job Title: Programmer

Using narrative the same information may look like this:
Jane Doe is a 45 year old female that was hired January 1st 2001 as a
programmer.

Have you ever successfully employed the narrative approach? Is the
narrative more appropriate in some situations?
Advantages/Disadvantages?

Please send your comments (and additional resources/research) to
[email protected] and I will collect and summarize for the
list.

Thanks -

Jason Hochwender
Usability Engineer
Union Pacific Railroad
402.544.4333

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