Learning Data Visualization

The dynamic of today’s media and communication is described as “soundbite culture,” in reference to our increased consumption of information and impatience with reading long text. Coupled with the proliferation of digital screens, data visualization now dominates daily life. But we have hardly been taught how to communicate in visual ways.

This makes sense, as only television screens existed when many of us were taught to read and write. Even younger generations have trouble keeping up because the education system often lags behind the forefront of digital innovations. Yet obtaining, analyzing and communicating in visual ways is key to most professions—not to mention social contact.

In the future, people will marvel at how we once tried to separate the digital from the real. So, how might we kick-start the learning curve?

Here at CartoDB, we value open access and self-directed learning. Our platform is designed in kind and so are our resource initiatives, which is why we’ve selected the following links and tools to help you upgrade your data visualization skills. We can’t wait to see what you can do!

Data Visualization Courses

• Data Visualization Fundamentals
• MIT Open Courseware: How to Process, Analyze, and Visualize Data

Data Visualization Learning Guides and Resources

• How to Become a Data Visualization Expert: A Recipe
• Flowing Data links
• Essential Collection of Visualization Resources

Data Journalism

Data journalism resources provide principles that can be applied to many other fields and projects.

• Doing Journalism with Data: First Steps, Skills and Tools
• The Data Journalism Handbook

Open Data

Getting data is the first step to creating awesome visualizations. Locating data, cleaning it, exploring it, and blending it are preliminary skills you should master.

• School of Data
• Open Data Handbook

Maps

• Maps and the geospatial revolution
• CartoDB Map Academy

In upcoming installments, look out for “The best data visualization books” and more.

We’ve shared our picks for best data visualization resources, so what are yours? Share them on Twitter with the hashtag #learndatavizz and we’ll include them here. If you’re active on GitHub, do a pull request!), and join the conversation.