005  |  How To Learn Data Visualization (with Andy Kirk)

Hi Folks! We love Andy so much that we decided to keep him with us for another episode (well, actually we hope somebody will eventually pay the ransom). This time we talk about “learning visualization”, which is the perfect topic for him given his experience with his training visualization courses.

We received many requests from people who wanted to know how to learn visualization in the past. So, here we are with a more than one hour long podcast with the three of us talking about it. We just hope you’ll find the time to listen to the entire episode. If not, the breakdown below can help you chunking it into a few sessions. Have fun!

Breakdown of the episode

Introductory thoughts
00:00:00 Intro, Andy Kirk (http://visualisingdata.com) is again our guest
00:01:15 Topic: How to learn visualization
00:01:56 Multidisciplinarity
00:06:31 Reports from teaching practice
00:09:21 Theory and practice – rules vs, free exploration
00:12:24 Do you need to start with a question?

Basic skills
00:15:43 What is the basic skill set to learn?
00:16:15 Visual variables
00:18:53 Statistics and data analytics
00:19:32 Gestalt laws
00:20:32 The journalistic sense – what is an interesting angle?
00:22:19 Position is everything
00:23:38 Color is difficult

Process and tools
00:25:05 Tools
00:26:18 Data types and repertoire
00:27:15 Metaphors
00:28:52 Interaction
00:31:27 The role of design
00:32:57 How to get started?

Learning options and books
00:39:46 Everybody should have a datavis course!
00:41:32 How to learn it yourself? Books, lectures, …
00:42:39 Stephen Few: Show me the numbers
00:43:20 Andy’s first book, and mo is the cinderella of datavis
00:43:52 Readings in Information Visualization: Using vision to think
00:45:09 Edward Tufte: Visual display of quantitative information
00:46:05 Ware: Information Visualization – Perception for Design
00:47:42 Misc.
00:49:23 Our scoop!
00:52:03 Google for “information visualization lecture pdf”

The craft of visualization design
00:53:43 Now that you know everything – how to do it in practice?
00:55:01 DIY vs. template-based tools
00:57:01 Do you need to learn how to program? Yes, yep, yes, yeah. Me too.
00:58:36 Tools
01:00:17 Finding data
01:02:28 Put it out there
01:04:08 The pathetic misery that is creating data visualizations

Conclusion
01:05:52 Trying to wrap it up
01:07:13 see conference – and see+
01:08:44 Trying to wrap it up – again!

Resources and Links

• visualisingdata’s resource paper (including books)
• fellinlovewithdata’s data visualization beginner’s toolkit: books and tools
• “making a map together“, perfecting a visualization from the guardian’s data blog
• Ben Shneiderman’s Visual Information Seeking Mantra (overview first, …)
• Lakoff’s metaphors we live by (if you need metaphors to use in vis)
• New notable vis books:
  • Noah Illinsky’s Designing Data Visualizations
  • Nathan Yau’s Visualize This
  • Tamara Munzner’s Information Visualization: Principles, Methods, and Practice (early incomplete draft)
• The Why Axis: vis criticism blog

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That’s all folks. Let us know how you like it and feel free to ask more questions if you have.