Data Visualization And Its Importance » Week 1 » Fundamentals Of Visualization With Tableau

Q: What is data visualization?

While the design of charts and graphs is part of what a data visualization practitioner does, it’s not all a data visualization practitioner does.

Q: Select each acceptable medium for a data visualization. (Select all that apply.)

This might be the first or second medium you might consider for a data viz given the context of this course, but it’s certainly not the only one. Is it unorthodox? Maybe, but that is no reason to avoid making a viz with crayons. It might not be your typical data viz medium, but you could absolutely use clay to make a data viz, and people have! Print, such as magazines and newspapers, is definitely an acceptable medium for data viz.

Q: What kind of information is documented on the walls of the Lascaux Cave in Southern France, dating back to the Pleistocene era?

Detailed astronomical information about the locations of stars can be found in the Lascaux Cave, dating all the way back to the Pleistocene era in Southern France.

Q: What is one of the earliest documented examples of data visualization?

The Turin Papyrus map dates back to about 1160 BCE, and shows the location of stone needed to build the tomb of King Ramesses the 4th.

Q: The information-seeking mantra states:

Show everything on the screen at once to give an overview, then let the user zoom in on what they want and filter what they don’t. Then they can click a marker to get the details.

Q: The goal of data visualization is to make pretty pictures.

The goal of visualization is insight, not pictures.

Q: Which Tableau product is free and used to make new visualizations?

Tableau Public is the free version of Tableau Desktop, which allows you to connect to data sources and make new visualizations.

Q: Select all of the skills I used when making my Google Sheets visualization. (Select all that apply.)

Perfect is the enemy of good, or as Confucius said, “A diamond with a flaw is better than a pebble without.” Critical thinking allowed me to look in unexpected places to find what I was looking for. Sometimes you have to trick the tool into getting it to do what you want it to do. Patience was the most important skill I used.