Aug 26 · #1
DUEPre-course survey (Canvas)
DS 2003: Communicating with Data
Fall 2026 · Mon/Wed/Fri · Sarah Groves · Syllabus · Computer setup guide · Canvas
Office hours: Fri 1–2 pm, Rm 437 (Sarah) · Wed 1–2 pm, Capital One Hub (Isabelle Lee, TA)
Slides, labs, and in-class activities go up here after each class. Submissions and grades are on Canvas. Anything past this week is tentative and will probably move around.
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Week 1Aug 24–28Unit 1: Exploratory visualization: the building blocks
Aug 24
No classWeek 2Aug 31 – Sep 4
Sep 2 · #4
CLASSLevels of measurement sort, Simpson's Paradox
Sep 4 · #5
LABLab 1: pandas & data types (nbviewer · download .ipynb, rubric)
DATAvolcanoes
DUEProject 1 assigned; Lab 1 due Sun
Week 3Sep 7–11
Sep 7
No class (Labor Day)Sep 11 · #7
CLASSDecoding charts
LABLab 2: grouping & aggregating (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DUEP1 topic & dataset due Sun; Lab 2 due Sun
Week 4Sep 14–18
Sep 14 · #8
Sep 16 · #9
CLASSColormap Designer: guided sandbox, Colormap Designer: assignment (notebook: nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DUEBad-viz discussion post due Thu
Sep 18 · #10
LABLab 3: anatomy of a figure (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DATApenguins, fastfood, flights, volcanoes
DUEColormap activity due; End-of-unit-1 survey due Sat; Lab 3 due Sun
Week 5Sep 21–25
Sep 21 · #11
Sep 25 · #13
Lab 4: encodings, color & chart types (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DATApenguins, flights, fastfood
DUELab 4 due Sun
Week 6Sep 28 – Oct 2
Oct 2 · #16
Lab 5: bad chart redesign (nbviewer · download .ipynb, charts)
DATAbad-chart data
DUELab 5 due Sun
Week 7Oct 5–9
Oct 5
No class (Fall break)Oct 7 · #17
Uncertainty & statistics
Oct 9 · #18
Lab 6: statistical plots
Week 8Oct 12–16Unit 2: Explanatory visualization: storytelling
Oct 12 · #19
Project 1 presentations, day 1
Oct 14 · #20
Project 1 presentations, day 2
Oct 16 · #21
Project 1 presentations, day 3
DUEProject 1 due
Week 9Oct 19–23
Oct 19 · #22
Storytelling
Oct 21 · #23
Data journalism & deceptive plots
DUEProject 2 assigned
Oct 23 · #24
Lab 7 (async, family weekend)
Week 10Oct 26–30
Oct 26 · #25
Infographics
Oct 28 · #26
Infographics II
Oct 30 · #27
Final project introduced
LABLab 8: decompose an infographic
DUEProject 2 proposals due
Week 11Nov 2–6
Nov 2 · #28
Data quality
Nov 4 · #29
Ethics & rhetoric
Nov 6 · #30
Infographic challenge + critique
LABLab 9
Week 12Nov 9–13
Nov 9 · #31
Science visualizations
Nov 11 · #32
Data journalism
Nov 13 · #33
Lab 10: Plotly infographics
Week 13Nov 16–20
Nov 16 · #34
Interaction taxonomies
Nov 18 · #35
Plotly
Nov 20 · #36
Plotly widget challenge
LABLab 11
Week 14Nov 23–27
Nov 23 · #37
Graphs, networks & trees
Nov 25
No class (Thanksgiving)Nov 27
No class (Thanksgiving)Week 15Nov 30 – Dec 4
Nov 30 · #38
Final presentations
Dec 2 · #39
Final presentations
Dec 4 · #40
Final presentations
DUEProject 2 due
Week 16Dec 7Final week
Dec 7 · #41
Last class: Worst Chart Contest 🍕