Project 1: Catalog & Classify

In this first week we will be creating a catalog of common visualization types, both to gain familiarity with the ‘defaults’ of data visualization and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

In class, you each selected a chart type. Do some research on your chosen visualization, looking both for written descriptions of its usage and as many visually interesting examples of it as you can find. Once you feel like you’ve gotten a handle on it, do the following:

• Create a slideshow using Google Slides with your selected visualization type as its title.

• Add an initial slide describing your visualization in terms of the kinds of values it represents (e.g., fractions, round numbers, percentages of a whole, etc.) and the sorts of comparisons it allows the viewer to make. Also note the types of questions it discourages the viewer from asking.

• Add a slide explaining what forms of ‘pre-processing’ need to occur between the raw data and the ink/pixels in the resultant chart.

  • For instance, a pie chart requires you to first add up the total value of all the pie slices in order to determine what percentage of the circle each slide should occupy

  • Similarly, a histogram requires all of the individual values it represents to be grouped into ‘bins’ and the number of entries in each bin to be counted up in order to decide how tall the bars should be

• Draw a diagram identifying (or explain in words) the ‘mapping’ by which numerical/categorical/etc values are converted into positions, sizes, colors, textures, etc.

• Add 3 slides with examples of ‘good’ uses of this visualization type

• Add 3 slides with examples of ‘bad’ examples (and be prepared to explain what’s wrong with them in class)