Pages on CS765 Data Visualization 2026

Sample Assignments

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:59:44 -0500

The following are some historic examples of assignments, intended to give you some context for the grading scheme. Note that none of these are very long, but they all show different degrees of connection to the readings (and in the case of the Seek and Find examples, to the visualizations). We do not take formatting or (minor) spelling/grammar errors into account when grading.

Since grades for assignments are assigned based on overall quality across multiple answers, these examples are only provided to show expectations.

Readings

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 10:25:07 -0500

Each module will have required readings in the first two weeks. The first week will have backbone and core readings. The second week will have advanced and experientialmodern and historic readings. Modules will also suggest optional readings.

Parts of Class and Rubrics

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 07:58:53 -0500

This class has many components (assignment types). There are Lectures, In Class Activities, Reading Surveys, Content Surveys, Anonymous Surveys, Seek and Finds, Design Warmups, and Design Exercises.

Calendar

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:42:25 -0500

Week	Monday	Wednesday	Friday
Welcome: What is Vis?
1 Reading 0-1		Sep 2 Lecture:	Sep 4 Reading Survey 0: Introduction Assignment: None
2 Reading 0-2	Sep 7 Lecture:	Sep 9 Lecture:	Sep 11 Content Survey 0: Experiential Readings Seek and Find 0: Bring a Visualization Video Experiment 0
Module 1: Building Blocks
3 Reading 1-1	Sep 14 Lecture:	Sep 16 Lecture:	Sep 18 Reading Survey 1: Building Blocks Seek and Find 1: Data, Tasks, Encodings
4 Reading 1-2	Sep 21 Lecture:	Sep 23 Lecture:	Sep 25 Content Survey 1: Building Blocks Design Warmup 1: Ask Questions, Sketch Answers
5	Sep 28 Lecture:	Sep 30 Lecture:	Oct 2 Anonymous Survey 1: Attitudes and Preferences Design Exercise 1: Sketches and Questions
Module 2: Methodology: Making and Using Visualizations
6 Reading 2-1	Oct 5 Lecture:	Oct 7 Lecture:	Oct 9 Reading Survey 2: Implementation and Methodology Seek and Find 2: Too much stuff
7 Reading 2-2	Oct 12 Lecture:	Oct 14 Lecture:	Oct 16 Content Survey 2: Implementation and Methodology Design Warmup 2: Make my visualizations
8	Oct 19 Lecture:	Oct 21 Lecture:	Oct 23 Anonymous Survey 2: How is this working? Design Exercise 2: Life Expectancy (stories)
Module 3: Principles and Formalism
9 Reading 3-1	Oct 26 Lecture:	Oct 28 Lecture:	Oct 30 Reading Survey 3: Principles and Formalism Seek and Find 3: Comparison (SF4)
10 Reading 3-2	Nov 2 Lecture:	Nov 4 Lecture:	Nov 6 Content Survey 3: Principles and Formalism Design Warmup 3: Working with Census Data
11	Nov 9 Lecture:	Nov 11 Lecture:	Nov 13 Anonymous Survey 3: Check In Design Exercise 3: Census (aggregations)
Module 4: Standard (Hard) Problems
12 Reading 4-1	Nov 16 Lecture:	Nov 18 Lecture:	Nov 20 Reading Survey 4: Hard Problems Seek and Find 4: Graphs
13 Reading 4-2	Nov 23 Lecture:	Nov 25 Lecture:	Nov 27 Thanksgiving Break Design Warmup 4: Experiment with Flight Data (distributions)
14	Nov 30 Lecture:	Dec 2 Lecture:	Dec 4 Content Survey 4: Hard Problems Design Exercise 4: More Flight Data
Wrap Up
15 Reading 5-1	Dec 7 Lecture:	Dec 9 Lecture:	Dec 11 Anonymous Survey 4: Class Survey Design Exercise 5: Portfolio (Resubmissions)

GAI Policies

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:49:44 -0500

Summary: Use AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, etc.) to help you in your learning, not to do the assignments for you. Treat them like another student: you can get them to help you, but you are responsible for your own work. Give them proper credit / attribution. Don’t claim their work as your own.

Course Learning Outcomes

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:49:17 -0500

Course learning outcomes explain what we are trying to achieve in the course. For the student, it gives you a sense of what I (as instructor) am trying to do. As instructor, it guides the design of the class.

What and Why

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:48:18 -0500

This class is a principles-and-design-oriented exploration of Data Visualization. This posting will explain the content, style, and rationale for the class. The class is different from most other CS classes.

Getting Started

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:47:46 -0500

Here’s what you should do to get started…

Understand what this class is about - please read the What and Why page (and maybe the Course Learning Outcomes) which will give you a sense of what this class is about. Reading the first tutorials can give you the philosophy of the course in a nutshell. This isn’t your standard CS class. If this class isn’t for you, we won’t be offended if you drop early.
Understand how the class will work - look at Policy Overview page to get an idea of the mechanics. The Syllabus has details about policies, but also a bit of the description of the content.
Be prepared for class - class attendance is required. Please bring drawing supplies (pens or pencils, in multiple colors - I recommend black + four other colors)

Attendance is part of class. This class involves in-class experiences. This requires students to be in class - if you are not in class for the in-class experience, you won’t have the in-class experience. If you know that you will miss a lot of classes, or do not intend to come to class “nearly all of the time”, please do not take the class.

Policy Overview

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:45:53 -0500

Summarizing the policy related contents of the Syllabus…

Syllabus

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:45:08 -0500

This is a Syllabus in the form of the official University Template. It details the course policies. A summary of course policies is available at Policy Overview

More information is on the course web page: https://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/765-26/.