In the age of big data, charts, visualizations and infographics have become the preferred way to access vast amounts of information. However, we often barely look at them, thinking of them as direct or automatic transcriptions of the data they provide. Instead, data and information visualizations are communicative artifacts of great complexity, capable of conveying not only data but also the worldview of those who collected, interpreted and translated it into visual form. The aim of the lab course is to provide students with the skills to engage with the visual representation of information, both from an analytical and a design point of view.

At the end of the course lab, students are expected to be able to analyze and apply different communication strategies in data and information visualization.

The lab course is made up of 8 lessons, spread over 4 days of 6 hours each, equally divided between moments of reflection on themes, theoretical concepts, operational and design tools, and moments of teamwork, in which students can test themselves on the various phases that make up a data communication project, starting from a shared dataset.

A. Cairo, The functional art. An introduction to information graphics and visualization, New Riders, 2013 (in particular chapters 1-2). A. Cairo, How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information, W W Norton, 2019. M. Friendly, H. Wainer, A History of Data Visualization and Graphic Communication, Harvard University Press, 2021 (in particular introduction and chapter 1). V. Manchia, “Beyond immediacy and transparency. A semiotic approach to discursive and rhetorical strategies in media visualization and data visualization”, «Punctum. International Journal of Semiotics», 2022, vol. 8, n. 1, pp. 85-113, <https://punctum.gr/volume-08-issue-01-2022-semioticapproaches-to-big-data-visualization/>. L. Manovich, Cultural Analytics, MIT Press, 2020. E.R. Tufte, The visual display of quantitative information, Graphics Press, 1983. E.R. Tufte, Envisioning Information, Graphics Press, 1990. E.R. Tufte, Visual Explanations. Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative, Graphics Press, 1997.

Lectures, analysis and discussion of case studies, teamwork.

– Final project – Final presentation – Short confirmation oral exam For attending students, the final project will be a team visualization project to be developed during the course starting from a given dataset. The last lecture of the course will be dedicated to oral presentations of the final team projects. Please note: each team member will evaluate others via a peer-evaluation form. If the rest of team highlights poor or null contribution to teamwork, the team member will be penalized, and his/her team mark weighted by the overall evaluation from peers. For non-attending students, the visualization project will be an individual project to be individually developed during the course. The visualization project must be submitted with a short written presentation. In the presentation the consistent use of graphs, tables and of the main course bibliography will also be factors of positive evaluation.

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