Interactive Data Visualization

Part of the Digital Media 3-Pack

NEW 300 (undergrad), 600 (grad)

Spring 2015

Tuesdays 12:30-1:50 PM.

NEWHOUSE 3, 253

About Me

• Horvitz Chair in Journalism Innovation.

• “Born digital” journalist.

• Digital journalist, product manager, startup

founder, dad, geek.

• And now, teacher!

My path …

• 1994 - The Denver Post (reporter)

• 1996 - Washingtonpost.com (launch team)

• 1998 - America Online (social networking products)

• 2004 - The Bakersfield Californian (new products)

• 2007 – Printcasting (funded startup)

• 2010 - BookBrewer (bootstrap startup)

Digital sherpa

I want to help you get up

that mountain.

I can show you the way and

maybe carry some of your

stuff, but I can’t carry you.

We learn by doing.

Photo by: McKay Savage WikiMedia Commons

Introductions

• Now let’s have you introduce yourself ….

DATAVIZ STYLE!

• Go to “introduce yourself as data” on

Journovationsu.org.

FTP login info• Host: ftp.journovationsu.org

• User: dataviz

• Password: (to be given out in class)

Use this for uploading files that you reference in HTML code in the

future. The full path to files will be:

http://journovationsu.org/dataviz_s2015/ followed by folders and

files you upload. (Don’t worry if this baffles you now – it will all

make sense later).

Cyberduck!

• The FTP client we

will use on Mac

labs.

• Search at upper

right on Mac,

Cyberduck.

Or on your own computer:• Filezilla: http://filezilla-project.org

FTP housekeepingMake sure you:

•Don’t upload over someone else’s file.

•Create a folder for your assignment, then

upload the entire folder.

•Have your own FTP / web host? Feel free to use

it instead of the class FTP.

Roll call – choose a question

1. Your Name and major

2. Answer one of the following:

•If you were a super hero or comic strip character, who

would you be and why?

•What is one food you’d never want to taste again?

•If you had a time machine, where and when would you go?

About the Class

http://journovationsu.orgClass web site:

Sometimes Blackboard• Bare-bones Blackboard site.

• Only used for turning in assignments.

(Fair disclosure: I HATE Blackboard).

Review Syllabus

• Open it from http://journovationsu.org

• Choose menu Dataviz Class > Syllabus.

Sharing• #NHData Class Finds (ditto)

• Share your own finds through Twitter to

#NHData. They’ll show up here.

Expectations

• Attend every class and arrive on time.

• One absence allowed no questions asked. After

that, final grade goes down a half letter grade

for each unexcused absence.

• Turn in each assignment by the due date:

usually Friday or Monday nights depending on

when it’s assigned. Dates in are Blackboard.

Workload

• This is going to be a very intense 5 weeks.

• Expect at least 6 hours of reading and homework outside

of class each week.

• You will be challenged. You will often get frustrated. This

is normal! If you don’t give up, getting past the frustration

points is where you learn the most.

• Most who think they don’t understand a concept actually

made it 80-90% through.

If you get stuck• Reach out for help! OFFICE HOURS.

• For more technical assignments, you don’t “fail” if you get

stuck as long as you do the following. In your blog post,

document what you tried, where you got stuck and what

you tried to get unstuck.

• The next class will start with a call for help.

• You can also reach out for help on Twitter, web forums and

by just Googling around.

Grade Breakdown

• 40% - Assignments - 80 points possible from 8 assignments,

worth 10 points each.

• 40% - Final Project - 80 points possible.

• 20% - Professionalism and classwork - 40 points possible.

Includes attendance, sharing finds, class participation,

quizzes.

Final Project

• Use at least three of the data visualization

tools we use in class, or others you choose, to

create a multi-faceted story that you publish

on the class blog.

• Start thinking about your story now and look

for good data to use.

Graduate requirement

• Grad students must either publish a site

featuring visualizations for final projects using

Expressions (free), or on your own web host,

or by getting your project published by a

professional site.

• Undergrads get extra credit for doing this.

FERPA forms• Please fill out this form so that we can use your

work to help future students.

• Note that everything on the class blog is publicly

available. This is to help you a) celebrate your

successes, and b) get help from a larger

community of dataviz friends (like when you get

stuck).

What is data visualization?Some things can best be understood by a)

seeing them, and b) exploring them. Some

examples:– News you can Use: Is it better to buy or rent?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=0

– Creating experiences. Get to know your neighborhood.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/14th-street-businesses/

– Understanding complexity. Which Supreme Court justices agree or disagree?http

://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/scotus-roundup-2013/

– Understanding behaviors. http://project.wnyc.org/non-voters/

– Understanding tragedy: http://guns.periscopic.com/?year=2013

– Understanding our world. http://Hint.fm/wind

Don’t be so serious!

Data can also be entertaining:– Where do people have the best sex, worst sex and most STIs.

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/7/5662608/in-different-area-codes

– Geeking out over Arrested Development. Two examples!

http://recurringdevelopments.com and http://apps.npr.org/arrested-

development/

– Enjoying music. Johnny Cash Project.

http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/

Register for Class Blog

• Get an account on the class blog:

http://journovationsu.org/wp-login.php

Then click Register.

Helpful excel tips

• Excel basics from IRE:

– In Diigo group under Readings, or here:

http://bit.ly/19aKVUa

– Play around with some formulas, get familiar

(or refamiliarize yourself).

First assignments• Register for the class blog (you will do that in an

exercise today).

• Assignment 1: Fill out class survey

• Assignment 2: Sorting and filtering in Excel.

Will go over on Thursday.

Reading due next week• Sections I and II,

Introduction and History, of

“The Art and Science of

Data-Driven Journalism.”

• Download PDF at

bit.ly/towdatajournalism

Questions?

Feel free to ask anything.

My office hours:

Tuesdays 3-5:15

Thursdays 10 a.m. - noon

Request other appointments at

http://doodle.com/danpacheco

And remember …

• “There’s no such thing as a stupid question,

but there is such a thing as a LAZY question.”

– Dan Pacheco

• Rather than Googling your professor, first try

using actual Google for answers. Or look in

lecture notes.