UCSC SciCom: Visual journalism

Data visualization

In these classes, we will cover basic principles of data visualization, acquiring and cleaning data, and make static, interactive, and animated charts.

Schedule

• Jan 7: Basic principles of data analysis and visualization

  How to ask questions of data, and present the results visually in ways that the human brain intuitively understands.

• Jan 9: Finding and downloading data

  Where and how to find data online. Tips and tricks for downloading unruly data, including browser extensions to extract data from web tables and download from multiple files en masse.

• Jan 14: Processing and cleaning data

  We will use Open Refine to process and clean “dirty data,” and learn how to obtain a script to repeat a data processing recipe on data in the same format.

  • Assignment: Pitch a data visualization project, placing this in the context of the wider story you are pursuing. This could be your feature, or it could feed into an unrelated video project. Include the data sources you intend to use, the questions you want to ask of the data, and what you want to show. Due Sat Jan 18 at 8pm.

• Jan 16: Basic charts with Plotly

  We’ll use the Plotly web app to make a variety of static and interactive charts.

  • Assignment: Progress report on your data visualization project. Share your data, and any preliminary charts. Detail any obstacles. Due Fri Feb 8 at 8pm.

• Feb 11: Processing data with R

  Introduction to R, R Studio and the dplyr package for data processing.

• Feb 13: Static charts with R

  Making charts with the ggplot2 R package.

  • Assignment: Practice exercises with dplyr and ggplot. Due Fri Feb 22 at 8pm.

• Feb 25: Interactive charts with R

  We will explore R packages called htmlwidgets that allow you to create JavaScript visualizations straight from your data with a minimum of coding.

  • Assignment: Seek help and feedback to make finalize your data visualization project.

• Feb 27: Animation: GIFs and videos from R

  We will use the gganimate package to make animated GIFs and videos.

  • Assignment: File final version of data visualization project. Due Fri Mar 8 at 8pm.