Critical Approaches to Data Visualisation

Description

Dr Anne Alexander, Senior Research Associate and Learning Director, CDH

Description

It is often said we live in a society saturated with data. Visualisation methods can play a crucial role in helping to cut through the information overload. Badly designed charts, graphs and diagrams, on the other hand, can confuse or deceive. This session will introduce and contextualise graphical communication practices historically and culturally, helping you to think more critically about your own work and that of others.

We will focus on graphical display as an interpretative and persuasive practice which requires as much attention to detail as writing. A hands-on collaborative exercise using historical data will give you the chance to put your visualisation skills to work. Coding skills are not required for this workshop but a basic familiarity with creating graphs and charts will be helpful. If you need to refresh your skills before the session, please use this open access workbook.

Target audience

CDH Methods sessions are open to the University of Cambridge staff and graduate students who want to learn and apply digital methods and use digital tools in their research, these sessions may be of particular interest to:

• PhD students in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Early Career Researchers in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Other Cambridge students and staff welcome