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
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 23 · #24
Lab 7 (async, family weekend): interactive EDA with Plotly (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DUEP2 proposal due Sun; Lab 7 due Sun
Week 10Oct 26–30
Oct 26 · #25
Interactive notebooks with ipywidgets
Oct 28 · #26
Graphs, networks & trees
Oct 30 · #27
Lab 8: ipywidgets: controls & linked views (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DATAgapminder
DUELab 8 due Sun
Week 11Nov 2–6
Nov 2 · #28
Infographics
Nov 4 · #29
Infographics II: principles of design
Nov 6 · #30
Lab 9: hierarchical data: interactive treemaps & sunbursts (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DATAsuperstore
DUELab 9 due Sun
Week 12Nov 9–13
Nov 9 · #31
Science visualizations
Nov 11 · #32
Data journalism
Nov 13 · #33
Lab 10 (light): annotating charts in matplotlib (nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DUEP2 narrative structure due Sun; Lab 10 due Sun
Week 13Nov 16–20
Nov 16 · #34
Data quality & deceptive plots
Nov 18 · #35
Ethics & rhetoric
Nov 20 · #36
Project 2 design critique
DUEP2 sketches in class; P2 critique reflection due Sun
Week 14Nov 23–27
Nov 23 · #37
Project 2 work session (optional: alluvial diagrams: nbviewer · download .ipynb)
DATAtitanic, superstore
Nov 25
No class (Thanksgiving)Nov 27
No class (Thanksgiving)Week 15Nov 30 – Dec 4
Nov 30 · #38
TBD
DUEP2 slides due Tue 12/1
Dec 2 · #39
Project 2 presentations, day 1
Dec 4 · #40
Project 2 presentations, day 2
Week 16Dec 7Final week
Dec 7 · #41
Last class: Worst Chart Contest 🍕
DUEP2 final notebook + infographic / science vis due 11:59pm