Course Description
Calendar: Problems, practices, and techniques of conveying complex information analysis. Issues of clarity, persuasion, visual literacy, and cultural context will be explored. Students will develop a data visualization project that will speak to or engage surveillance, data analytics, activism, or other issues covered in advanced IDM courses.
This course (INF451H1 — Information Design Studio IV: Information Visualization) addresses problems, practices, and techniques that arise from the growing use of visualization media to analyze and interpret data, manage information complexity, and communicate data-driven messages. Through it, students will acquire the ability to use and understand a number of important visualization methods (e.g. dashboard communication), and will learn how to critically interrogate the application of visualization technologies in novel domains (e.g. data journalism). Various important topics will be discussed, including the use of visualization to mislead, the tension between truth and aesthetic concerns in data design, and the recent growth of visualization literacy initiatives. Throughout the course, students will develop a visualization project that will engage with surveillance, data analytics, activism, or other themes covered in advanced BI courses. Additionally, students will engage with a number of important visualization tools (e.g. Matplotlib) that will be introduced through activities and case studies with real-world import, providing them with an opportunity to develop theoretical knowledge through applied work, as well as enhance their professional portfolios.
Pre-requsites/Co-requisites: INF412H1: Data Analytics, INF352H1: Information Design Studio II: How to Design