The Week in Vis: Week 7 (Oct 12-16)

This week, we continue Module 2: Methodology: Making and Using Visualizations - we’ll talk more about implemetation, as well as some key design considerations (scalability and comparison). Importantly, this week, you’ll start to make “real” visualizations with data. Reading 2-2 will ask you to try to use some grammar-based approach, and Design Warmup 2: Make Some Visualizations will ask you to make some visualizations using tools of your choice.

For this week, the “reading” is more of a “doing”: Reading 2-2 has some things to read, but it also asks you to try to use a grammar-based tool (e.g., Vega-Lite or Tableau). Spending a little time with the tutorial is good enough - you’ll get the ideas.

The bigger piece is to actually try making some visualizations with real data. The assignment Design Warmup 2: Make Some Visualizations (and the class in general) tries to be tool-agnostic. You should pick something you think is appropriate for this assignment (and future ones). I used to recommend Tableau Access for CS765, but that recommendation is now not as strong as it once once. (see the page for an explanation). Really, the best tool is one that you are likely to want to continue using after the assignment.

Next week, you will do Design Exercise 2: Stories from Life Expectancy. Design Warmup 2: Make Some Visualizations is a warmup for that. You might want to look ahead a little.

Yes, I am aware we have fallen a little behind in getting feedback to people. I take full blame for this. We are working on getting caught up.