Visualization

Readings

• Data Visualization’s Breakthrough Moment in the COVID-19 Crisis

Preparing

This week, we are going to do something a little bit different. I've given you one article to read about the role of visualization during the pandemic. I want you to think critically about it, as we have previous readings using our collection of prompts.

In addition, I would like you to bring a visualization to share. The visualization can be on any topic, it just needs to be interesting to you on some way. Some possibilities:

• the topic is meaningful, and the visualization illustrates it well
• the visualization is a useful tool for understanding something
• the visualization is visually arresting or aesthetic
• the visualization seems to be lying in some way
• the visualization is incomprehensible

You can find visualizations all over the place these days. Practically every story about the pandemic or the election includes a visualization. I particularly recommend checking out the Upshot on the New York Times, which has a long history now of mixing visualizations and journalism.

Make sure you have a URL ready. On Friday, I will open up a Live Q&A post on Piazza that you can post into when you are ready to share.

General Prompts

• something you didn’t understand, or want to know more about
• something that surprised you — something you hadn’t thought of before or didn’t know existed
• something that resonated with you — you recognize it in your own interactions with technology
• something you disagree with
• something you are concerned about