Summary and Setup

This is a new lesson built with The Carpentries Workbench.

Our modules are designed for learning modern programming tools for data visualization through the recreation and adaption of scientific charts created by W.E.B. Du Bois and his collaborators for the 1900 Paris World Expo.

This site includes coding interactives in R and Python that you open and use with any web browser without any software installations on your own computer. These activities provide code blocks, often with prompts for users to fill in the blank or edit code before clicking execute. These activities are ideal for beginners who do not yet want to install and learn to use a code editor and graphical user interface (GUI) on your own computer.

If you already use a code editor and GUI like R Studio, Sublime, or Jupyter Lab, we recommend that you instead use our language specific Lesson sites that use live coding exercises:

Prior to the interactive coding activities, we present “Episodes” on:

  1. Why Visualize Data: This covers how visualization can be a tool for creative problem solving in STEM research. The lesson examines how Du Bois turned to visualization as a tool for scientific analysis and communication to challenge false theories of racial inequality.
  2. Reading and Interpreting Charts: This introduces the four major chart types employed by Du Bois that are still in use today. It covers why we use particular chart types for specific types of data.