Data Visualization and Communication

Data and information visualization is a massively interdisciplinary field that encompasses the graphic representation of different types of data. It is also the analysis of visual representations of both abstract and concrete data to facilitate human cognition. The abstract data include different forms of discreet data, such as text, number arrays or geometrical coordinates.

Data visualization can be also defined as the practice of translating data into a visual representation, such as a map or some sort of a graph, to make data more understandable for the human brain to process and pull insights from. The main goal of data visualization is to facilitate the identification of patterns, trends and outliers in some large data sets.

The tool of choice for data visualisation during the course is HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, JavaScript and Angular. HTML5, CSS3 and Bootstrap are one of the most popular front-end tools for fast and intuitive web-development. Bootstrap offers several sets of ready-made web-design solutions (typographies, forms, buttons, web-layouts, and many more), which greatly enhance both site’s visual aspects and user experience. Extensive layout customization, stellar browser support, and clean code make Bootstrap the tool of choice for a variety of web projects, ranging from simple websites to intricate single page applications.

Angular is an open-source JavaScript-based application framework created by Google. Its great flexibility and versatility have been universally acknowledged by programmers and users alike, due to it being founded upon the MVC (Model-View-Controller) software architecture pattern. Angular applications offer many useful techniques of data-binding, thus making it possible for a programmer to skip some of the strenuous architecture-designing tasks in favour of direct problem-solving. In a matter of hours, Angular can transform a lifeless static web-page into a responsive interaction-rich user-friendly environment.