Preface

Author

Martin van Rongen*, Hugo Tavares, Matt Castle

Published

September 20, 2024

Overview

Communicating data effectively is an important skill in many scientific fields, and beyond. The ease at which large quantities of data are now generated, it becomes more important than ever to be able to get your message across clearly.

This course is intended to give you background on how to communicate effectively, using visualisations.

The course is split into different sections which are modular, but independent of each other. As such, they can be worked through in order, but also used as a reference.

There is a section Coding with purpose which provides a very short recap on some basic programming concepts. Although not intended as a replacement for a more in-depth programming course, it will provide you with the basic tools you need to get started. If you already have experience in programming, do skip this section!

Learning objectives
  • Gain insight into the visual design process
  • Understand the basics of what makes a good and bad visualisation
  • Use basic programming skills to create effective data visualisations

Target audience

People who need to communicate their data, particularly in a scientific setting.

Prerequisites

We expect people to have a basic understanding of programming, either in R or Python. Included in these materials is a quick guide to programming, which some of the basic techniques used in this course. This is not intended as a replacement for a proper introduction to programming and if you are a complete novice - don’t worry. Have a look at our course schedule to book your place on an Introduction to R or Python. These courses run several times each year.

Authors

About the authors:

  • Martin van Rongen
    Affiliation: Bioinformatics Training Facility, University of Cambridge
    Roles: writing - original draft; conceptualisation; coding

  • Hugo Tavares
    Affiliation: Bioinformatics Training Facility, University of Cambridge
    Roles: writing - review & editing; coding

  • Matt Castle
    Affiliation: Bioinformatics Training Facility, University of Cambridge
    Roles: conceptualisation