Remote Instruction for Data Visualization Design-A Report From the Trenches.

Jan Aerts,Houda Lamqaddam,Jelmer Bot,Jannes Peeters,Danai Kafetzaki

doi:10.1109/mcg.2021.3116042

Jan Aerts, Houda Lamqaddam + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/mcg.2021.3116042

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Abstract

In this article, we report on our experiences of running visual design workshops within the context of a master's level data visualization course, in a remote setting. These workshops aim to teach students to explore visual design space for data by creating and discussing hand-drawn sketches. We describe the technical setup employed, the different parts of the workshop, how the actual sessions were run, and to what extent the remote version can substitute for in-person sessions. In general, the visual designs created by the students as well as the feedback provided by them indicate that the setup described here can be a feasible replacement for in-person visual design workshops.

Highlights

In this paper, we report on our experiences of running visual design workshops within the context of a Master’s level data visualization course, in a remote setting
We report on our experiences running online visual design workshops in the context of data visualization, as part of a Master’s program in statistics and data science at two universities, using a synchronous, non-collocated setup [5]
Our experience is that the issue for these students is mainly an “unconscious adherence to the influence of prior designs” [9]: the design space that someone explores to find a solution is by definition a subset of the design space that that person knows

Summary

Introduction

We report on our experiences of running visual design workshops within the context of a Master’s level data visualization course, in a remote setting These workshops aim to teach students to explore visual design space for data by creating and discussing hand-drawn sketches. Creating innovative, appropriate visual designs is not a trivial task, especially for people who are not familiar with creative visual work, such as students in statistics and data science. For this reason, we want to look at methods that are meant to assist students in the task of design space exploration and ideation for visual design, in an online seating. It might not be possible to run such sessions in person, and they need to be moved to an online setting (e.g., due to social distancing and traveling restrictions as during the COVID-19 pandemic)

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