stat645

Class syllabus.

Prerequisite: Stat405

This course will give you the tools to create and critically evaluate data visualisations. We will focus on statistical graphics, graphics that display “statistical” data (observations are in rows and variables in columns), with some forays into the field of information visualisation.

What you will gain from this course:

an understanding of perceptual principles the underlie graphics
the ability to use these principles to critique graphics and suggest improvements
better skills in R to go from data and a question to a compelling visualisation

This course will be driven by you and your participation - I will act as a guide to this new terrain, but I expect you to do most of the exploration.

Assessment

Presentations and reflection: 40%. Each week two of you will prepare a short presentation about the readings, and prepare questions to inspire discussion. If you're not presenting, you'll need to write a one-page reflection on the readings, as described below. Attendance and participation are mandatory.
Three projects: 60%. Selected from one of the options described in more detail below: annotated bibliography, review article, ... You can work on these projects in groups of up to three, and I'm happy to entertain other ideas.

Weekly readings

Each week, unless you are selected to present, you to need to write a one-page page of single-spaced 12pt text with 1 inch margins that answers the following questions about the readings:

what was the article? (a brief citation so you can find it again later)
how does the work help you create better visualisations?
what did you find interesting?
how does it connects with the other reading?
what questions you were left with?

These are due Thursday, in class.

Presentation (everyone)

If you are selected to present, you need to:

Prepare a 15 minute presentation that highlights what you think are the main points - be prepared to defend your choice.
Prepare five questions to engage conversation
Find two graphics that show how the principles apply in practice - try and find one that does a good job and one that does a bad job, and be prepared to explain why.

Annotated bibliography

An annotated bibliography is the first step along the road of writing a review article. It will list all of the articles that you have read related to the topic, as well as articles you have yet to read. It should include full citation information, as well as brief notes to remind you of the key points of the article.

Your annotated bibliography should include at least 10 articles per person, and for each article should provide (1) a paragraph on the contents of the paper, (2) why it is important, and (3) briefly note which papers in the references you also want to read. The idea of the annotated bibliography is to help you remember what you read, so be as brief as possible.

Your bibliography should be created in bibtex because this is the standard bibliographic format used in statistics. For a friendly editor on the mac, try bibdesk, and on windows jabref. If you use firefox, you might want to try zotero. Another option is Mendeley.

Review article

If you have created an annotated bibliography in a previous project, you can go on to write a full review article. The article should motivate the topic (why should I bother learning about this), then pull together the existing research a way that shows how it links together. Tables and visualisations that show how major advances fit together are highly recommended. From reading the paper, you should get a good overview of the field and the key references if you want to find out more.

Course plan

Week 1: Introductions
Week 2: Layered grammar of graphics (1 class)
Week 3: Perception of continuous variables
Week 4: Perception of discrete variables
Week 5: Introduction to mondrian
Week 6: Mosaic plots
Week 7: Parallel coordinate plots
Spring break
Week 8: Introduction to ggobi
Week 9: Linked brushing
Week 10: Tours
Week 11: Clustering and classification
Week 12: Model visualisation
Week 13: TBA
Week 14: TBA

Disability statement

If you have a documented disability that will impact your work in this class, please contact me to discuss your needs. You'll also need to register with the Disability Support Services Office in the Allen Center.