I understand that for the first week, more people miss class for various reasons.
You cannot “make up” missed classes (especially in-class experiences). However, you should go through the lecture slides (which will have much less value since they are meant to accompany the lecture). I will usually post the materials from the In-Class-Exercise (the first in-class exercise is here).
If you missed Friday (our first in-class exercise), I recommend that you try it at home. It won’t be nearly as useful (since you’ll miss discussing it, and you’ll miss the “lecture” aspects where we tie the assignment to the concepts). But read the slides, try the assignment, and maybe follow the link to the online place where a designer shows some of his answers.
Even if you miss class, you should try to keep up with all of the other parts of class. See the Week in Vis postings (for week 1 and week 2) for a reminder of what you should be doing.
If you are still on the waiting list: you cannot get access to Canvas. I have sent email to people who I thought were on the waiting list with instructions. But, in general: do the readings, and write your postings so you can post them when you get Canvas access.