Welcome!

class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide

.title[
# Welcome!
]
.subtitle[
## An overview of the course
]
.author[
### Maithreyi Gopalan
]
.date[
### Week 1
]

---

layout: true

---
# Agenda

.pull-left[

* Getting on the same page
* Syllabus
* Accessing and working with the course data
* If time allows - Intro to text data
]

.pull-right[
![](img/edld652-logo.png)
]

---

# whoami

.pull-left[
* Associate Professor
* Pronouns: she/her/hers
* Primary areas of interest: educational equity, policy analysis, social psychology,systemic inequities in opportunities and achievement, and variance between educational institutions
* Big secret: I am not a 💗💗R💗💗; have been a SAS and STATA user, so learning R with y'all! 
]

.pull-right[

![](img/gopalan.jpg)
</div>
]

---
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# whoisyou?

.left[
* Introduce yourself
* Why are you here?
* What pronouns would you like us to use for you for this class?
* What was one thing you did not related to academic work over winter break?
]

---

# A few class policies

--
* Be kind

--
* Be understanding and have patience, with others **and yourself**

--
* Help others whenever possible

--
Truly the most important part of this class. Important not just in terms of decency, but also in your learning, and most importantly, for equity.

---
# A more specific policy
### Kiddos in class

* All breastfeeding babies are welcome in class as often as necessary.

* Non-nursing babies and older children are welcome whenever alternate arrangements cannot be made. As a parent of two young children, I understand that babysitters fall through, partners have conflicting schedules, children get sick, and other issues arise that leave parents with few other options.

---

* In cases where children come to class, I invite parents/caregivers to sit close to the door so as to more easily excuse yourself to attend to your child's needs. Non-parents in the class: please reserve seats near the door for your parenting classmates.

* All students are expected to join with me in creating a welcoming environment that is respectful of your classmates who bring children to class.

---
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# In-person class

---
# In-person class
* This class is in-person

* Your class participation grade comes exclusively from your active participation in the class through discussions and hands-on lab sessions

* If you are not feeling well, please do not attend in person

* See syllabus for attendance policy

---
# Last intro thing

* I'm here for you

* We won't have specific office hours, but know I'm always willing to meet

* This course, like all in the sequence, can be difficult. Don't suffer in silence. Don't do this alone.

---
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background-size:cover

# Syllabus

---

# Course Website(s)

.pull-left[
## [website](https://dataviz-win2026.netlify.app)
]

.pull-right[
.right[
## [repo](https://github.com/maithgopalan/c2-dataviz-2026)
  ]
]

---
# Materials
* Nearly everything will be distributed through the repo and through the website.

* Please clone the repo now, if you haven't already. Pull each week for the most recent changes.

* We'll use Canvas for grading, and that is essentially it.

---
# R Markdown notes
* These slides were produced with [**{xaringan}**](https://github.com/yihui/xaringan), an R Markdown variant. I encourage you to try it out and use it for your final project presentation.

* The website was also produced with R Markdown (sort of)
  + It's a [**{blogdown}**](https://github.com/rstudio/blogdown) website with some custom CSS and Hugo shortcodes
  
* This course is not just about data viz, but also mediums for communication. This includes websites and [data dashboards](https://jenthompson.me/examples/insight_progress.html) among other possibilities.

---
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# My assumptions about you

---
# I assume you

* Understand the R package ecosystem (how to find, install, load, and learn about them)

--
* Can read "flat" (i.e., rectangular) datasets into R

+ I don't care what you use, but you should be using RStudio Projects & the [{here}](https://github.com/r-lib/here) package

- See [Jenny Bryan's blog post](https://www.tidyverse.org/articles/2017/12/workflow-vs-script/) for why.

---
* Can perform basic data wrangling and transformations in R, using the
tidyverse

+ Leverage appropriate functions for introductory data science tasks (pipeline)
  + "clean up" the dataset using scripts and reproducible workflows

--
* Use R Markdown to create reproducible dynamic reports

--
* Use version control with R via git and GitHub

--
* Indeed, all of today's lab is going to be about that!

---
# Learning objectives

* Transform data in a variety of ways to create effective data visualizations

--
* Understand best practices in data visualization

* Create and customize graphics in a variety of ways using best practices (e.g., visual perception, color choices, text annotations, categorical axis ordering, uncertainty)

* Build web-based platforms for sharing data visualizations

---

# Examples
Below are some links to final projects from students who have taken this class previously.

.pull-left[
### Dashboards
* [Songyi Ahn](https://songyiahn.github.io/sesweight/)
* [Sophia Angleton](https://sophiavangleton.github.io/FInal-Blog/)
* [Maiko Hata](https://maihata.github.io/finalproj/)
]

.pull-right[
### Blog post
* [Teresa Chen](https://teresashchen.github.io/blog/)
* [Ouafaa Hmaddi](https://ohmaddi.github.io/Portfolio-Kiva/)
* [Murat Kezer](https://mkezer.github.io/Moral-values-across-countries/#predicted-values-of-moral-values-by-gender-equality)
]

---
# Weekly learning objectives

Provide you a frame for what you should be working to learn for that specific week.

### This week's objectives
* Understand the requirements of the course
* Understand the requirements of the final project
* Be ready to go with *git* and GitHub

---

# Required Textbooks (free)

.pull-left[
## [Healy](http://socviz.co)

]

.pull-right[
.right[
## [Wilke](https://serialmentor.com/dataviz/)
]

]

---

# Other books (also free)

.pull-left[
![](https://happygitwithr.com/img/watch-me-diff-watch-me-rebase-smaller.png)
## [Bryan](http://happygitwithr.com)
]

.pull-right[
.right[
<div>
<img src =https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/b88ef926a004b0fce72b2526b0b5c4413666a4cb/24a30/cover.png height = 400> 
</div>
  ]
]

.right[
### [Wickham & Grolemund](https://r4ds.had.co.nz)
]
---
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# Extra credit opportunity
**5 points**: Deep dive into a topic not covered by the course

---
# Some options

* Geographic data (we will discuss this, but it's relatively late and there's a ton we won't be able to get to)
* Network data
* DAGs
* Flow data (e.g., alluvial diagrams)
* Interactive plots
* Animated plots

---
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# Some examples

---
background-image:url(https://timogrossenbacher.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/tm-final-map-1.png)
background-size:contain

<br/>

[Timo Grossenbacher](https://timogrossenbacher.ch/2016/12/beautiful-thematic-maps-with-ggplot2-only/)

---
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background-image:url(https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/25231784/41408567-08313b66-6fcb-11e8-8c55-75baa36364cd.png)
background-size:contain

[Paul Campbell](https://gist.github.com/PaulC91/e767ca4f0c4335e6e0d2f71eb7cc98cc)

---
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background-image:url(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/05/02/learning/economic-mobilityLN/economic-mobilityLN-superJumbo.png?quality=90&auto=webp)
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[Patrick Honner](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/learning/lesson-plans/moving-on-up-teaching-with-the-data-of-economic-mobility.html) via NYT

---
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background-image:url(https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/7896861/17839509/d66b3c2a-67b7-11e6-9ee4-5f8ad54746d7.gif)
background-size:contain

[James Curley](https://github.com/jalapic/nba)

---
# Labs

See the [assignments](https://dataviz-win2026.netlify.app/assignments/) page of the website.

---
# Data viz "in the wild" presentations
Everyone will be randomly assigned a date to share two data visualizations you have found in publications, websites, or anywhere else IRL.

* Not a formal presentation

* Share the links with me before class - we'll look at it as a group and discuss

* You note where you found it and what you like/dislike about it

---

# Presentation order

.footnote[I will email this out as well. ]

.pull-left[
<table>
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Date </th>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Presenter </th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-14 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Kat </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-14 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Ziyuan </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-14 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> James </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-21 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Nishat </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-21 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Steven </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-28 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Febe </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-01-28 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Cheyna </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-04 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Chen </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-04 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Tongle </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-11 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Everett </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-11 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Dodjivi </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
]

.pull-right[
<table>
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Date </th>
   <th style="text-align:left;"> Presenter </th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
<tbody>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-18 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> America </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-18 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Rachel </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-25 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Erika </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-02-25 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Ramtin </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-03-04 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Kyla </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> 2026-03-04 </td>
   <td style="text-align:left;"> Isha </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
]

---
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# Final Project 
70 points total (35%)

---
# Group project

* Please try to finalize your group by the end of today. You will have time when exploring the course data to work together.

* No fewer than 2, no more than 3.

* Although the final is the only mandated group project, I encourage you to work with your group for all labs and the lab assignments as well.

---
# Three parts
* Proposal (20 points)

* Presentation (20 points)

* Product (30 points)

---
# Product

### Four components:

* A web-deployed portfolio showcasing your [#dataviz](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23DataViz&src=tyah)
  skills.
  + [distill](https://rstudio.github.io/distill/) (what I'll lecture on), 
    [R Markdown](https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown/rmarkdown-site.html), or
    [blogdown](https://bookdown.org/yihui/blogdown/) website, or 
    [Quarto](https://quarto.org/docs/websites/website-blog.html)
  + Technical document with [pagedown](https://github.com/rstudio/pagedown) or
    [bookdown](https://bookdown.org/yihui/bookdown/)
  + Scientific poster with [pagedown](https://github.com/rstudio/pagedown)
  + [flexdashboard](https://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/flexdashboard/)

---

* At least four finalized data displays, with each accompanied by a strong 
  narrative/story, as well as the history of how the visualization changed over 
  time.
  
* Housed on GitHub
  + Fully reproducible

* Deployed through [GitHub pages](https://pages.github.com) (or netlify or similar)

---
# Proposal

### Four components:

* Show me some evidence that you've at least played around with some data and that you have some ideas of what you want to do

* *Very* preliminary visualizations, and/or hand-sketches of visuals you'd like to make, noting the data sources/columns to be used

* Identification of the intended audience for each viz

* The intended message to be communicated for each viz

--
## Main point - feedback!

---
# Draft

* Expected to still be a work in progress
  + Data visualizations should be largely complete

* Deployment not expected

* Can be provided to your peers so they can learn from you as much as you can learn from their feedback

---
# Peer Review
* We are all professionals here. It is imperative we act like it.

* Understand the purpose of the exercise.

* Zero tolerance policy for inappropriate comments

* Should be vigorously encouraging

### Utilizing GitHub

* Fork their repo, embed comments & suggest changes to their code, submit a PR

---
# Presentation 
Order randomly assigned. Basically a chance to share what you created!

* Presentation length will be determined later, but likely to be in the 10-15 minute range (note - you will present as a group)

* Share the final products

* Share the prior iterations

* Discuss the progression along the way and why specific changes were made

* What challenges did you face along the way? What victories did you have that you are particularly proud of?

---
# Grading

|  **Lower percent** |**Lower point range**  | **Grade** | **Upper point range**  | **Upper percent**|
|  :-------: | :-----------------| :-:| :---------------: | -----:|
|  0.970+    | (146 pts or more) | A+ |                   |       |
|  0.930     | (140 pts)         | A  | (145 pts)         | 0.969 |
|  0.900     | (135 pts)         | A- | (139 pts)         | 0.929 |
|  0.870     | (131 pts)         | B+ | (134 pts)         | 0.899 |
|  0.830     | (125 pts)         | B  | (130 pts)         | 0.869 |
|  0.800     | (120 pts)         | B- | (124 pts)         | 0.829 |
|  0.770     | (116 pts)         | C+ | (119 pts)         | 0.799 |
|  0.730     | (110 pts)         | C  | (115 pts)         | 0.769 |
|  0.700     | (105 pts)         | C- | (109 pts)         | 0.739 |
|            |                   | F  | (104 pts or less) | 0.699 |

---
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background-image:url(https://d194ip2226q57d.cloudfront.net/original_images/10_Tips_for_Workplace_Communication)
background-size:contain

---
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# Questions?

---
# Let's jump into a quick Github Workflow refresher

---
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# Next time

* Quick refresher of R Markdown/R and visualizations of continuous variables
* If time permits, we will also discuss text data, string manipulations, distributions/binning