Exploring Data Visualization Options with Flourish

Kate Topham, Digital Humanities Archivist, Michigan State University

Kristen Mapes, Assistant Director of Digital Humanities, Michigan State University

Description

Visualization is often the “way in” to our data, both for scholarly analysis and presentation to an audience. However, it is critical to understand the process of visualizing data: who is it for, and what questions does it answer? In this workshop, participants learn how to choose the right visualization for their data, how to prepare their data for visualization, and create their own visualizations using Flourish.

What should I do to prepare for this workshop?

1. Create a free account at Flourish.studio
2. (Optional) Download the csv dataset files that we will be working with. (Csv is a spreadsheet format, and will open in Excel or any other spreadsheet software.)

Slides

Direct link to Google Slides

PDF of slides: Visualization and Flourish.pdf

Additional Resources and Readings

• Tufte, Edward - Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001)
• Mackinlay, Jock - “Automating the Design of Graphical Presentations of Relational Information” (1986)
• Stephen Franconeri - "Multiple views on how to choose a visualization" (2019)

Creating a Proportional Bar Chart in Flourish

Google Slides link

Creating a Hierarchical Bubble Chart in Flourish

Google Slides link