MyAV·¶

This module is split into two parallel tracks: Track A, taught by Andy Kirk, focuses on the critical thinking of data visualisation; Track B, taught by Kyran Dale, focuses on the technical implementation of data visualisation. The lectures are interlaced, with alternate sessions switching between the tracks over the 10 weeks to sequentially build up your full understanding of data visualisation.

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TrackÌýA of this module equips students with a theoretical and practical understanding of data visualisation, covering the full spectrum of contemporary capabilities required to master this subject. You will learn about the role of design thinking in the visual communication of data, following a workflow process that will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your creative choice-making. You will learn about the importance of developing journalistic instincts, the vital recognition of contextual influence, and the intricacies of working with data to form the foundation of your analytical flair. This side of the module shines a light on the human side of communicating with data, exposing the nuances, the ambiguities, and the imperfections, but giving you the confidence to embrace these uncertainties rather than seek to escape them. Andy will be teaching you in Weeks 1, 3, 5, and 8, with 9 and 10 being joint sessions.

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Track B of this module offers a technical introduction to data visualisation, starting with analysis and visualisation using Python Jupyter notebooks and showing how the results of this analysis can be used in a simple web presentation. As well as showing how to tame your data using notebooks it will cover the basic web-dev skills needed to transfer these results to the web, both as a complete statically rendered notebook and as static or dynamic, interactive charts, the latter using Python's Plotly library. There will also be a brief introduction to what is by far the biggest, most powerful visualisation library on the web, D3.ÌýKyran will be teaching you in Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 7, with 9 and 10 being joint sessions.