Course
👨🏫 After having taught Stats 198 Interactive Data Science and Visualization at UC Berkeley in Spring 2025, I packaged up all of my materials into a (creative commons, open source) kit that includes. everyting you need to learn: lectures, readings, exercises, and labs. This public resource is free and available for everyone. Start this massive open online course today!
I am still putting the finishing touches on the posting of this material. Check back late summer / early fall 2025.
Why
Learn new technical data visualization skills including essential libraries and engineering techniques. Gain new important design perspectives and frameworks for building interactive data experiences. Unlock new insight into your own data and become an expert storyteller in sharing your work visually / interactively with others.
Data are essential to how we experience and understand the world. The way we interact with tools, analyses, and simulations all change the insights we learn, the stories we tell, the actions we take, who is included, and what is left out. My teaching combines traditional user experience and information design (data visualization) with interactive storytelling and video game design.
I hope we will explore how to:- Build data visualizations and other interactive experiences to share your findings with others.
- Invite your audience in as co-creators to build new meaning alongside you in your work, building collaboration between users and AI / machine learning for solution design and decision support.
- Craft tools which help both you and your users navigate data-heavy tasks and uncover insights.
- Tell impactful stories that engage your readers emotionally through data.
- Incorporate ethics and accessibility into your data visualization work.
For scientists
I would love to explore together how you might build tools which give you superpowers in your own analysis. I also hope this material helps you effectively share insights with others and even invite them in as co-creators to find new meaning or ask new questions. Finally, the ambition of this teaching is that you can better engage policy makers, business professionals, artists, and other scientists to help them both love and more deeply understand your work.
For storytellers
For artists and journalists, I hope we may explore how to engage data, science, and simulation in your storytelling. Find new ways to interact with audiences and create responsive pieces that invite participation. The ambition of this material is that you may learn how to weave data into broader narratives that address critical issues in new ways.
For engineers
I hope we may explore how to design and build flexibile and inviting data-intensive experiences alongside users in iterative and collaborative ways. The aim of this material is that you may build new techniques to engage your users that allow them to become more active participants or even authors, extending the impact and utility of your creations.
For mathematicians
I hope we may create new tools that help you and others better reason about systems and solutions. Together we will explore creating interactive media that not only expertly convey findings but also enable deeper reasoning that build new perspectives on results.
Upcoming
I am excited to offer multiple opportunities for the University of California community to learn more about interactive data science. I hope you can join me in exploring how these techniques can complement your work and expertise!
Currently things are on break for the summer. Get notified about upcoming courses and workshops.
Materials
I have some materials from prior engagements available online beyond my massive open online course which is a repackaging of material I taught at UC Berkeley in Spring 2025.[Video + Slides] 4 Perspectives on Data Visualization (EcoTech)
Workshop on different perspectives into what data visualization is and how to do it well. An introductory talk given to ESPM focused on scientists looking to bring data visualization into their work, this provides an overview of some of the big ideas in data visualization / interactive science. This 30 minutes can help you start your journey. A rehearsal recording and slides available. The later include details on the interactive section.
[Slides] Data Science for System Design
Guest lecture given to a systems design course at UC Berkeley about how data science, information, and game design can help understand and take action within complex systems. Slides are available.
[Video] Visualizing Systems
Guest lecture given to a systems design course at Stanford looking at visualization for systems. A talk rehersal recording is available.
[Video + Slides] Thinking Through Tools
Talk (Thinking Through Visualization Tools) given to the Data Visualization Society Bay Area group. Discussion of the different philosophies embedded in visualization tools and how those perspectives influence the work built with them. A talk recording and slides are available.
[Video + Slides] Tools for Systems Design, Participation, Public Policy
Talk delivered to PH 101 at UC Berkeley focused on the Global Plastics Tool but also speaking towards systems design and participation. See rehearsal recording. Slides and works cited also available.