Coffee & Viz returns Jan. 29

Emotional meaning and data viz for the lay-person, this spring

How can data make you feel something? Or cut through academic-speak with a straightforward voice? The Libraries’ popular Coffee & Viz series returns this spring semester to answer questions like these by showcasing the unique ways that researchers at NC State and elsewhere are using visualization to enhance their work. 

Coffee & Viz programs are held virtually and are free and open to the public. Attendees will be entered into a drawing to receive (via mail) their choice of a coffee bag or tea tin and a mug from locally owned sweet shop Anisette. Register to attend these programs at the links below.

The Coffee & Viz spring 2021 season is as follows:

Coffee & Viz: Designing for Emotional Meaning-Making with Data
Friday, Jan. 29, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
How might interactive data visualizations invite more social, emotional meaning making with data? Noura Howell, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, will present her design research exploring different ways of knowing with biosensory data—data about people’s bodies, behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Combining critical making, speculative design and participatory experiences, her work challenges dominant techno-logics of data and explores alternatives. She makes with code, circuits, wood, e-textiles and sound. Howell has previously worked at Intel Labs, The Echo Nest, and the MIT Media Lab.

Coffee & Viz—Data Showing: Communicating Visually with your Reader in Mind
Friday, Feb. 26, 9:30 a.m.-10:15 a.m.
Data presentation strategies have primarily focused on the expert data user. But data visualization for the purpose of analysis is not the same as data visualization for communication. Visualizations created for non-technical experts or to communicate to everyday lay-readers require different presentation models than those used in the scientific realms. Building on her work as co-PI for an Institute for Emerging Issues-supported project on mapping local North Carolina community "Data Stories," Deborah Littlejohn, Associate Professor of Graphic Design in the College of Design, will present a reader-centric approach to data presentation that uses principles from user experience and graphic design with the goal of helping data readers craft narrative understandings of the information.