MAS.S70 | Applied Data Visualization

Course Description

Meaning in data is only revealed to those who can bring it to life. With the continual rise of data availability and adoption, the need for sound training in visualization is increasingly important.

Applied Data Visualization is a course designed to equip students with the theoretical and practical tools needed to build effective and engaging data visualizations. By the end of the semester, we aim for students to feel comfortable designing and developing visual stories with data.

The first half of the course consists of instructional learning through workshops and readings. An applied midterm project will help integrate these learnings. The second half of the course focuses on creative learning through working on the final course deliverable: a publication- or release-quality visualization project on a topic of student’s choosing.

Applied Data Visualization is a pass/fail course. Students are expected to critically discuss weekly readings, give and receive peer feedback, and learn while doing. No experience with visualization or programming is necessary. Experience with front-end web development (HTML/CSS/JS), visualization and interface design, and software development processes would help.

Syllabus

Sep 15
Introduction		 Discussing course plans and expectations
Giving a taste of data visualization through presentations and projects
Sep 22
Learning Day 1		 Theory: Foundations
Applied: Hands on with D3Plus

Slides
D3Plus Workshop Repo (Solutions)
Sep 29
Learning Day 2		 Theory: Perception
Applied: Building custom visualizations with D3

Slides
D3 Workshop Repo (Solutions)
Oct 06
Learning Day 3		 Theory: Visualization Techniques
Applied: Building custom visualizations with D3 (Day 2)

Slides
D3 Workshop Repo (Solutions)
Oct 13
Learning Day 4		 Theory: Multidimensional Visualizations, Maps, and Networks
Applied: Building a complete platform with React & Replot

Slides
D3 Workshop Repo (Solutions)
Oct 20 Media Lab Fall Member’s Event (No Class)
Oct 27
Demo Day		 Presentations: Guided Project Demos
Nov 03
Project Day 1		 Theory: Narrative Visualizations & Intro to Creative Projects
Applied: Starting Work on Course Projects: Project Proposals
Nov 10 Veteran Day (No Class)
Nov 17
Project Day 2		 Applied: Project Progress Feedback & Office Hours
Nov 24
Project Day 3		 Thanksgiving (No Class)
Dec 1
Final Presentations Day 1		 Theory: Visualization and Collaboration
Applied: Project Presentations Day 1
Dec 8
Final Presentations Day 2		 Theory: Visualization Evaluation
Applied: Project Presentations Day 2 and Wrap Up. Course reflections.

Instructor

César Hidalgo

César A. Hidalgo leads the Collective Learning group (formerly Macro Connections) and is an associate professor in the program in media arts and sciences at MIT. Hidalgo’s research focuses on collective learning–the learning taking place in teams, organizations, and economies. With his group, he develops analytical tools and models to understanding how collective learning takes place, and also, they design tools to help improve the collective learning of organizations.

Teaching Staff Contact

dataviz17@media.mit.edu

Readings

Required readings for each week are marked with a [*]. Please submit 1-2 questions at this link by Thursday midnight before each class.

Sep 22: Foundations

  • [*] Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Chapters 1-3)
  • [*] Anscombe, “Graphs in Statistical Analysis”
  • [*] Stevens, “On the Theory of Scales of Measurement” OR Level of measurement
  • Bertin, The Semiology of Graphics (Part 1, Chapters 1-2)

Sep 29: Perception

Oct 06: Visualization Techniques

Oct 13: Multidimensional Visualizations, Maps, and Networks

More readings will be posted, at latest, one week before the deadline.

Projects

Personal Dataviz Website

Here's a tutorial that will guide you through the process of creating your website!

As discussed in the introductory class, we want all students taking the course to set up a website on github pages. You will be uploading the work you do during the class to your website each week. The websites of all students will be linked to from the course website. Your course project will also be uploaded on this website.


Guardian API project

Guardian API Scraper (use this to get data for your project)

The first class project is an individual project and is due on Thursday, 26th October at 5pm. Please host your project on Github pages and submit the final project link using this form. You will have 5 minutes each to explain your project in class.

Resources & Useful Links

Here are some resources that should help with setting up your development environment, learning Javascript syntax and other fun things to help you along the way!

Set Up