For the design exercises (and possibly other things), you must at least try Tableau.

Tableau is a commercial data analysis and visualization tool. The company generously provides it for use in classes through the Tableau for Teaching Program.

Here, we will give you a brief guide on how to get started with it, and pointers to some resources. We expect students to figure out how to work with Tableau enough for class.

Hopefully, everyone is settling into the regular pattern of class. This week (or maybe next week, if you’re reading this at the end of Week 2 - maybe it’s easiest to just say “Week 3”) will be an even more “normal” week in that we have everything in the regular rhythm, as well as our first design exercise due.

The topic for this week is abstraction: how do we talk about data and tasks in general ways. This will allow us to get away from the details of any specific problem, and to transfer our knowledge between problems. It will also allow us to consider general purpose tools. We’ll also talk about critique (which you read about last week).

This is our first full week of class (September 12-16). Hopefully, you will get used to the Rhythm. This week will follow the “usual” pattern. The week “starts” the Friday before with the “week in Vis”. This weekly message goes out as a Canvas Announcement, but also appears on the course web at The Week in Vis 2 (Sep 12-16): Why Vis?.

This week, will be a bit of a broad subject intro, and then we’ll get into “design process”.

This is the first of a weekly posting called The Week in Vis that explains what is going on in class during the week. It also should give you context for why we are doing things, and how it all fits together (so it is part of the “content” for the course). Each week, it will be posted as a Canvas Announcement. It is also a page on the course web (see The Week in Vis: Week 01).

Usually, I make this posting on Friday (before the week), but this is not a normal week.

If you are just getting started, the most important things to know (in a suggested order to read them):

• If you haven’t read What Is This Class and Why? page you should.
• Understand the Communications Policy policy to know what there is beyond this web page.
• Look at the Parts of Class which will give you an idea of how the class works. There are required class meetings (“lectures”), 3 regular weekly tasks (discussion, seek-and-find, survey), and design exercises.
• All these pieces shouldn’t be too hard to keep track of because there is a Rhythm.
• Look at the Schedule to get a sense of what will happen this semester (at least what is scheduled so far).
• You should understand the course Policies.
• You don’t need to purchase Books since we will provide the required readings online, but you must come to class and bring art supplies (see Class Meetings (Attendance)).
• If you’re concerned about Grading, the grading plan might not make you feel better.
• And then look at The Week in Vis: Week 01 to see what’s happening the first week!

No, we really don’t start counting at 0, this is the week(s) before class.

Normally, there is a posting each week about what will happen in class during the week to help you get ready for it. This is a bit of a practice for that.