INFO 4602 / 5602: Information Visualization

Course Description

Data is everywhere. Charts, graphs, and other types of information visualizations help people to make sense of this data. This course explores the design, development, and evaluation of these information visualizations. By combining aspects of design, computer graphics, HCI, and data science, you will gain hands-on experience with creating visualizations, using exploratory tools, and architecting data narratives. Topics include interactive systems, user-centered and graphic design, graphical perception and cognition, data storytelling, and insight building. Throughout this course, you will work directly with stakeholders to analyze data from a variety of domains and applications.

Textbook

Tamara Munzner. Visualization Analysis & Design. The book is .

Course Objectives & Outcomes

The purpose of this course is to enable students to design, construct, and evaluation visualizations, with an emphasis on user-centered design and system development. Upon completing this course, students will:

  • Understand the basic factors, workflows, and processes involved in creating effective visualizations
  • Compare methods for visualizing data and understand how these different methods might guide users towards different conclusions
  • Understand different ways of formally measuring trade-offs in different visualization approaches
  • Develop a toolkit for exploring and communicating complex data using visualizations
  • Construct interactive visualizations for the web using D3 and other popular platforms
  • Conduct a series of design studies with stakeholders to develop novel solutions to current analytics challenges
  • Understand design and engineering challenges for data-centered systems

Assignments

This course will require regular participation both in class and on the course message board. For each week’s readings, you will be expected to post either a small guided prototype or written reflection based on provided prompts directly on the course message board. You will also respond to at least two (undergraduate students) or three (graduate students) responses or prototypes posted by other students as part of your participation grade. Unless otherwise posted, reflections and prototypes will be due on Tuesdays and responses will be due on Thursdays.

There will be no exams in this course, but you will be expected to contribute to three projects in small teams. Each project will require intermediate check-ins, a final submission and write-up (including confidential team evaluations), and a final presentation.

Topics

  • Ways and Histories of Data Analysis
  • Touring the Visualization Zoo
  • Common systems, tools, & platforms
  • Anatomy of a Visualization
  • Analysis Tasks & Workflows
  • Project Hackathon #1
  • Principles of Visual Perception
  • Interaction
  • Handling Scalability
  • Design Studies
  • Evaluation Methods & Understanding Insights
  • Project Hackathon #2: Zayo Network Maps Challenge
  • Final Project Pitches
  • Quantitative Evaluations & Experimental Design
  • Data Storytelling
  • Engineering End-to-End Visualization Systems
  • Final Project Work
  • Final Project Showcase