Welcome!
Welcome to ComStrat 475: Introduction to Data Visualization. Each week will include course materials organized as lessons that include a combination of videos, lecture slides, readings, links and questions/activities.
Most weeks, it will be beneficial to complete the week’s readings before going through the lecture materials. But this week you can start with the following introduction video:
Video not showing up? Watch on YouTube here.
And here’s a very quick glance at the types of tools and projects we’ll be doing in this course.
Video not showing up? Watch on YouTube here.
Next, you need to read the course syllabus in Canvas. Read the course policies thoroughly, and especially make sure you can answer questions like: What materials are required and recommended for this class? What happens if you submit an assignment a few hours late? How can you get in touch with questions?
Readings
• Data + Design Foreword and Chapter 1
We’re getting started with Data + Design, a free online textbook that I like quite a bit because it covers a lot of material quickly. Even the title is a good summary of the two parts we’re bringing together in this class: It’s about data, and then it’s about the design decisions involved in communicating that data visually. The first chapter about data is a little dense — we’ll have some examples in the next lesson to help clarify that.
Discussion
There is a discussion prompt to accompany each lesson. You will respond using the discussion forum in Canvas. Sometimes this will involve an activity rather than just a written response, but we’ll get started with quick introductions.
Introduce Yourself: Here’s the equivalent of going around the room to briefly explain why we’re all here. Please tell us who you are, including:
- Your name (what you like to be called, plus pronunciation of your name and preferred pronouns)
- Your major or area of study
- What you hope to do career-wise after graduating
- What you’d like to get out of this class (OK if you don’t really know yet)
Assignment 1
Syllabus Visualization: Your first assignment is a sketching activity to begin thinking about how information — particularly numerical information — is represented visually. Find the full instructions here on the course website (see the “Assignments” tab) and submit your work on Canvas.