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Seeing Data: Visualization for Impact

Reading list

Every reading this course assigns, module by module, with the best free copy we could find.

49 readings19 free to read2 on request28 books

A free copy is the published text, or the author's own manuscript held by a university repository, which has the same content without the journal's layout. A subscription reading opens at the publisher, where your library may give you access. If it does not, request a copy and we will reply by email. Books link to their publisher.

Module 1. Why Visualize? Purpose & Principles

  1. Tufte, E. R. (1983). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press.Publisher pageBook
  2. Cairo, A. (2016). The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication. New Riders.Publisher pageBook
  3. D'Ignazio, C. and Klein, L. F. (2020). Data Feminism. MIT Press. Open-access edition.Read it free
  4. Anscombe, F. J. (1973). Graphs in Statistical Analysis. The American Statistician, 27(1), 17-21.Publisher pageSubscription

Module 2. Data Types & Quality Structures & Challenges

  1. Huff, D. (1954). How to Lie with Statistics. W. W. Norton.Publisher pageBook
  2. Croft, T. N., Allen, C. K., Zachary, B. W. and others (2023). Guide to DHS Statistics, DHS-8. ICF.Read it free
  3. Wilkinson, L. (2005). The Grammar of Graphics, 2nd edition. Springer.Publisher pageBook
  4. Wickham, H. (2010). A Layered Grammar of Graphics. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics, 19(1), 3-28.Read it free
  5. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (2023). Operational Guidance on Data Responsibility in Humanitarian Action.Read it free

Module 3. Visual Encoding Graphical Perception

  1. Cleveland, W. S. and McGill, R. (1984). Graphical Perception: Theory, Experimentation, and Application to the Development of Graphical Methods. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 79(387), 531-554.Publisher pageSubscription
  2. Heer, J. and Bostock, M. (2010). Crowdsourcing Graphical Perception: Using Mechanical Turk to Assess Visualization Design. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2010), 203-212.Read it free
  3. Wilkinson, L. (2005). The Grammar of Graphics, 2nd edition. Springer.Publisher pageBook
  4. Wickham, H., Navarro, D. and Pedersen, T. L. (n.d.). ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis, 3rd edition. Free online edition (Springer).Read it free
  5. Few, S. (2012). Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, 2nd edition. Analytics Press.Publisher pageBook
  6. Schwabish, J. (2021). Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. Columbia University Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 4. Color & Accessibility Inclusive Design

  1. Crameri, F., Shephard, G. E. and Heron, P. J. (2020). The misuse of colour in science communication. Nature Communications, 11, 5444.Read it free
  2. Smith, N. J. and van der Walt, S. (2015). A Better Default Colormap for Matplotlib. Talk at SciPy 2015, with the authors' project page.Read it free
  3. Ware, C. (2013). Information Visualization: Perception for Design, 3rd edition. Morgan Kaufmann.Publisher pageBook
  4. Brewer, C. A. (2005). Designing Better Maps: A Guide for GIS Users. ESRI Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 5. Chart Selection Frameworks & Common Mistakes

  1. Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Wiley.Publisher pageBook
  2. Schwabish, J. (2021). Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks. Columbia University Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Few, S. (2004, 18 September). Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe: Selecting the Right Graph for Your Message. Intelligent Enterprise.Read it free
  4. Schwabish, J. (2021, 8 February). Five Charts You've Never Used but Should. PolicyViz.Read it free
  5. Monmonier, M. (2018). How to Lie with Maps, 3rd edition. University of Chicago Press.Publisher pageBook
  6. Tufte, E. R. (1997). Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Graphics Press.Publisher pageBook

Module 6. Design Process Style Guides & Iteration

  1. Grosh, M. and Glewwe, P. (eds) (2000). Designing Household Survey Questionnaires for Developing Countries: Lessons from 15 Years of the Living Standards Measurement Study, 3 volumes. World Bank.Read it free
  2. International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ICF (2021). National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21: India. IIPS.Read it free

Module 7. Storytelling Narrative & Audience

  1. Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Wiley.Publisher pageBook
  2. Knaflic, C. N. (2019). Storytelling with Data: Let's Practice! Wiley.Publisher pageBook
  3. Knaflic, C. N. (n.d.). Storytelling with Data. Talks at Google [video].Read it free
  4. Cairo, A. (2012). The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization. New Riders.Publisher pageBook
  5. Tufte, E. R. (1983). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press.Publisher pageBook
  6. Few, S. (2006). Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. O'Reilly Media. (2nd edition, Analytics Press, 2013.)Publisher pageBook

Module 8. Tool Landscape Selection & Evaluation

  1. Wickham, H., Cetinkaya-Rundel, M. and Grolemund, G. (2023). R for Data Science, 2nd edition, Chapter 1: Data visualization. O'Reilly Media. Free online edition.Read it free
  2. Healy, K. (2019). Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction. Princeton University Press. Free online edition by the author.Read it free
  3. Wilke, C. O. (2019). Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. O'Reilly Media. Free online edition by the author.Read it free

Module 9. Interactive Visualization Web & Dynamic

  1. Shneiderman, B. (1996). The Eyes Have It: A Task by Data Type Taxonomy for Information Visualizations. Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages, 336-343.Read it free
  2. Murray, S. (2017). Interactive Data Visualization for the Web: An Introduction to Designing with D3, 2nd edition. O'Reilly Media.Publisher pageBook
  3. Tufte, E. R. (1990). Envisioning Information. Graphics Press.Publisher pageBook
  4. Cairo, A. (2012). The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization. New Riders.Publisher pageBook

Module 10. M&E Dashboards Development Applications

  1. Evergreen, S. D. H. (2019). Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data, 2nd edition. SAGE.Publisher pageBook
  2. Few, S. (2006). Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data. O'Reilly Media. (2nd edition, Analytics Press, 2013.)Publisher pageBook
  3. Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Wiley.Publisher pageBook

Module 11. Advanced Topics Specialized Approaches

  1. D'Ignazio, C. and Klein, L. F. (2020). Data Feminism. MIT Press. Open-access edition.Read it free
  2. Krygier, J. and Wood, D. (2016). Making Maps: A Visual Guide to Map Design for GIS, 3rd edition. Guilford Press.Publisher pageBook
  3. Knaflic, C. N. (2015). Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. Wiley.Publisher pageBook
  4. Cairo, A. (2019). How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information. W. W. Norton.Publisher pageBook

Module 12. Capstone Project Portfolio Development

  1. Tufte, E. R. (1983). The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press.Publisher pageBook
  2. Wilke, C. O. (2019). Fundamentals of Data Visualization: A Primer on Making Informative and Compelling Figures. O'Reilly Media. Free online edition by the author.Read it free

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