Readings

Reading #4

Graphesis
by Johanna Drucker

Read the second chapter: Interpreting Visualization :: Visualizing Interpretation. Also consult the relevant 'plates' in the Windows section.

Use the tag “R4” for your post.

Reading #3

Graphesis
by Johanna Drucker

Read the frontmatter and first chapter: Image, Interpretation, and Interface. Also consult the relevant 'plates' in the Windows section.

Pick one of the works cited in the chapter to investigate and collect some imagery and/or context to be included in your write-up. Take your pick of any books/essays/artworks mentioned in the text itself, or highlighted in the red sidebar text in the margins.

Use the tag “R3” for your post.

Reading #2

Subtleties of Color
by Robert Simmon

The use of color to display data is a solved problem, right? Just pick a palette from a drop-down menu (probably either a grayscale ramp or a rainbow), set start and end points, press “apply,” and you’re done. Although we all know it’s not that simple, that’s often how colors are chosen in the real world. As a result, many visualizations fail to represent the underlying data as well as they could.

Read the blog series.
And/or watch the lecture.

Use the tag “R2” when you post your assessment of the readings and the questions raised.

Reading #1

Profiles in Badness
from Kieran Healy, Carl Bergstrom, & Jevin West

Read Healy's introductory chapter from Data Visualization for Social Science:

Look at Data: What Makes Bad Figures Bad

Read Bergstrom & West's Calling Bullshit essays:

Use the tag “R1” when you post your assessment of the readings and the questions raised.

Required Reading

Drucker, Johanna. Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.