Data Visualization is about helping people gain knowledge from data. The focus of this workshop is on approaches to turn data into actionable insights, combining heuristics for visual analytics with techniques from user-experience design. Participants will learn how to choose and create data visualizations driven by user-oriented objectives, through presentations and an in-class exercise. The class exercise will be conducted in small groups. Workshop class size is limited to 60 participants, on a first-come, first-served basis.

1. HANDS-ON WORKSHOP:
DATA VISUALIZATION + UX
Mark Schindler
GroupVisual.io
Bang Wong
Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard
O P E N
D A T A
S C I E N C E
C O N F E R E N C E_
BOSTON
2015

2. Actionable Data Visualization
Helping people make decisions
and solve problems

3. Out of scope for today:
• Making data look cool
• Visualization as art
• Deep dive into technologies for
visualizing data

4. There are many domains of problem-
solving. We’ll focus on examples in:
Science Business Consumer

5. Data Visualization User-Experience Model (DVUX)
Visualizing to address user goals
User
Questions
Narratives
Insights
Conversation
User Goals
Analytics
Data

6. ”
“
Scenario #1: Business Example
I run a medium-sized company that
sells a variety of products across the
country. My sales teams are organized
in 4 regions, and products are grouped
into 5 product categories.

7. Data Visualization User-Experience Model (DVUX)
Visualizing to address user goals
User
Questions
Narratives
User Goals
Analytics
Data
Insights
Conversation

8. User Goals
I want to know how my business is performing. Which areas are
doing well and not? For the poor performers, what do we think
is going on? What can be done to improve our business?
User Questions
• Which products are performing best? Worst?
• Which product groups are doing well? Which are not?
• Which regions are performing best? Worst?
• How is my business trending across different regions?

9. Which products are
performing best? Worst?
Which regions are
performing best? Worst?
How is my business trending
across different regions?
Strategic Wireframe
Visualize User Questions
Which product groups are
doing well? Which are not?

10. [DASHBOARD - PROVIDED BY LUIS]

11. “
Scenario #2: Consumer Example
My spouse and I want to buy a house.
• We have 2 young kids, and want 3-4 bedrooms
• We’d like 2+ baths
• Our budget is $375k, but might be able to stretch to $400k
• We’d like to be in a town with good schools
• We’d like to be near public transit
• We prefer a house with a yard, but would consider a condo.
• We don’t really want to buy a multi-family dwelling.
”
I’d like to make a decision that is informed by data.
I don’t just want the answer – I’d like to see visualizations
that help me see the context.

12. USER QUESTIONS
1. I want a house with low cost per square foot
2. Can I find properties that fit my minimum needs?
3. How do prices cluster? What is the median price? Is my price range
realistic?
4. Does price correlate to other needs, like transit availability?
5. Can I see the houses on a map?
6. How fast is the market moving?
7. What are the demographics of the different towns?
8. What is a house's price, relative to its neighbors?
9. How often has the house been sold?
10. What is the house next to? (Airport, Highway, etc.)
11. What is the school quality?
12. How do my needs relate to each other? Are there tradeoffs to get what
we want?

13. • What question(s) you are trying to help the user answer
• Why you chose the visualization
• How it helps the user get insight
Download the data set and plots: groupvisual.io/data
When presenting, please tell the group:

14. Discussion/Q&A