Syllabus

See also: LecturesLectures
See also: Syllabus

Lecture 1 - Introduction
7 January 2025
Lecture 2 - Data to Information
14 January 2025
Lecture 3 - TBD
21 January 2025
Lecture 4 - TBD
28 January 2025

Subject Code: DD325 Course Title: Data Visualization Jan to May 2025

Course Objective: Learn to use data as a design material to exhibit, explore, explain, experience and enable.

Tuesdays

  • 9am - 10am Lecture
  • 10 am - 1pm Studio
  • 1pm - 2pm Lunch
  • 2pm - 5pm Studio

Contact Hours:

  • Lecture (L): 1
  • Tutorial (T): 0
  • Studio (S): 6

Studio Hours: 4 Examination Duration (Hrs):

  • CWS: 10
  • STS: 40
  • MTE: 10
  • ETE: 20
  • STE: 20

Credit: 4 Semester: 6th

Course Syllabus

S. No. Contents Contact Weeks
1 Importance of data visualization; Data and image models; Visualization Design 3
2 Color; Space; Data Analysis; Multi-Dimensional data; Graphical Perception 4
3 Visualization Software; Interactive Visualization; Animation in Visualization 4
4 Mapping and cartography; Narrative; Text Visualization 3
Total   14

Detailed Structure

Data and Information

  • Data
  • Information
  • What can we do with data?
  • Forming insights
  • Data to Information

Data Models

  • Structured and unstructured data
  • Semi-structured data
  • Examples of both
  • Structured data - levels of measurement

Image models

  • Raster and vector images
  • What are images made of?
  • Time spent on campus - Rasagy's map of entry, exit
  • Sky maps over covid

Text models

  • Qualitative vs. quantitative aspects (word counts, context, sentiment).
  • Challenges of analyzing unstructured text.
  • Word clouds, phrase nets, topic modeling visualizations
  • Leveraging NLP (Natural Language Processing) techniques for deeper insights.

Exploring data

  • Dimensions in data
  • Basic Stats
  • Spreadsheets for exploring data
  • Identifying outliers and trends
  • Simple visualisations inside spreadsheets
  • Measures of central tendency - mean, median, mode
  • Frequency
  • Exploratory Data Analysis - Techniques like box plots, histograms, scatter plots to uncover insights.

    Graphical Perception

  • Role of aesthetics, clarity, and function in effective visuals.
  • How structure influences the visualization form
    • tree diagrams, node-link diagrams
    • Bar, line, pie, scatter plots, etc.
    • Minimizing visual clutter and maximizing data-ink ratio
    • Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, Proximity Accuracy of Different Chart Types - Cleveland and McGill studies on how people interpret lengths, angles, and areas.
  • Visual Encoding: Color, Shape, Size
  • Color wheels, complementary, analogous, triadic color schemes.
  • Color for cartography
  • Perceptual aspects of color (simultaneous contrast, color blindness considerations).
  • Visual Design: Typography, Spacing, Emphasis
  • Plane graphic
  • Negative space
  • Ben Schneiderman’s Visualization Mantra: “Overview first, zoom and filter, then details on demand.”

    Infographics

  • What separates illustrations from infographics?

    Lying with Data

  • Ethics in Data Visualisation
  • Data bias - where can it come from
  • Histories - data x design, staged photographs
  • Misleading graphics
  • Common fallacies
  • Spurious correlations

    Storytelling with data

  • Structuring data narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
  • Who is this for?
  • New York Times interactive visual stories.
  • Gapminder (Hans Rosling) for data-driven storytelling.
  • Finding datasets
  • Exploring datasets
  • Finding insights

    Geospatial visualisations

  • Mapping and cartography
  • History of maps
  • Relevant xkcd: Map Projections
  • With a large enough sample size everything is a population map xkcd: Heatmap [OC] Geospatial density of the biggest fast food chains in the USA : r/dataisbeautiful
  • Exercise: Making a map
  • Contributing to OpenStreetMap
  • Projections (Mercator, Robinson, etc.), scale, and symbolization.
  • Mapping statistical data (choropleth, proportional symbol maps).
  • Exercise Schematic Maps
  • India in Pixels -
  • Ashris Choudhury—Outlier 2021—Narrating a Nation Through Numbers: India in Pixels - YouTube

    Motion in Data Visualisations

  • What can motion add?
  • Shows temporal trends effectively.

    Interactive Data Dashboards

  • Engages users, allows exploration of data from different angles. Encourages personal discovery and deeper insight.
  • Data Interfaces
  • Sci fi interfaces
  • Accessibility Bring accessibility to charts in your app - WWDC21 - Videos - Apple Developer