Skip to main content

Topics in Communication Studies (395-0-24)

Topic

Information Visualization

Instructors

Matthew Jeremy Shaver Kay

Meeting Info

Frances Searle Building 2370: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

The objective of this course is to introduce students to information visualization. While there are different uses of the term "information visualization" in different communities, for the purposes of this class, we will treat information visualization as the use of (possibly interactive) visual representations of abstract data. The course is intended for students interested in understanding and utilizing information visualization in their own work to better understand and communicate insights from data. Students will learn the visualization pipeline, processing data for visualization, visual representations, the design of information visualizations, and the impact of perception. Students will also develop the skills necessary to solve visualization problems and critique and evaluate information visualizations.

This material will be covered through lectures, readings, and a number of assignments and projects. The assignments and large group project will provide students with practical experience in the construction of visualization systems. The course will include written assignments, visualization sketching, and some basic visualization programming, depending on the general background and interest of students in the class. Students should be comfortable with a basic level of programming and be willing to work with and learn graphics APIs and analysis tools, but the intent is that anyone should be able to take this class and learn how to create visualizations.