CS-GY 6313 B: Information Visualization - Fall 2026

Instructor: Claudio Silva (csilva@nyu.edu) TA (Labs): TBA Grader: TBA Meeting Times: Fridays 11:00 AM - 1:30 PM Classroom: Jacobs Hall, 6 MetroTech Center, Room 315, Brooklyn Campus Semester: September 4 - December 11, 2026

Announcements

Welcome to Fall 2026! Course materials will be posted here as the semester progresses. Start by reading the syllabus and setting up an Observable account before the first class on September 4.

⚠️ Work in progress: This site is tentative and is being actively updated ahead of and during the semester. Schedule, lab sessions, assignments, and posted materials may all change. Students will be notified via Discord and course announcements.

Schedule

Week 1 (Sept 4) - Introduction and Evaluation

• Slides: Course Introduction & Syllabus

  Lab: Observable & Vega-Lite

• Topics: Course overview, What is visualization?, Evaluation frameworks
• Lab: Setup Observable accounts, Create first Vega-Lite charts
• Assignment: Exercise 1 - Visualization critique and basic Vega-Lite charts (due Sept 10)
• Readings: Card & Mackinlay (1999) - Using Vision to Think

Week 2 (Sept 11) - Analytical Questions and Data Transformation

• Slides: Analytical Questions and Data Transformation

  Lab: Intro to Vega-Lite Data Transformations…

• Topics: Visual queries, Data types, Transformation operations
• Lab: Vega-Lite data transformations, Working with real datasets
• Assignment: Exercise 2 - Data questions and transformations (due Sept 17)
• Readings: Shneiderman (1996) - The Eyes Have It; Wickham (2014) - Tidy Data

Week 3 (Sept 18) - Fundamental Graphs and Visual Encoding

• Slides: Fundamental Graphs and Visual Encoding

  Lab: Fundamental Graphs and Visual Encoding

• Topics: Five fundamental chart types, Marks and channels, Expressiveness and effectiveness, Scale choices
• Lab: Chart comparison and design exercises, Scale choice scenarios
• Assignment: Exercise 3 - Chart design and encoding alternatives (due Sept 24)
• Readings: Tufte Ch 1-2 (Graphical Excellence & Integrity)

Week 4 (Sept 25) - Visual Perception and D3 Foundations

• Slides: Visual Perception and D3 Foundations

  Lab: First D3 programming session, DOM manipulation, Data binding

• Topics: Pre-attentive processing, Gestalt principles, Perceptual accuracy, D3.js introduction
• Lab: First D3 programming session, DOM manipulation, Data binding
• Assignment: Exercise 4 - Perception-based design + D3 implementation (due Oct 1)
• Readings: Franconeri et al. (2021); Kennedy Elliott - 39 Studies
• Optional Reference: Visual Thinking for Information Design (2nd Ed.) by Colin Ware - Chapters on perception

Week 5 (Oct 2) - Color Theory and D3 Scales

• Slides: Color Theory and D3 Scales

  Lab: Color scale exercises, Choropleth maps, Accessibility testing

• Topics: Color perception (biology/physics), Color spaces (RGB, HSL, LAB), Sequential/diverging/categorical scales, Color accessibility, D3 scale implementation
• Lab: Color scale exercises, Choropleth maps, Accessibility testing
• Assignment: Exercise 5 - Color scale design and implementation (due Oct 8)
• Required Readings:
  • Which Color Scale to Use - Lisa Charlotte Rost
  • Modeling Color Difference - Szafir (2018)
  • D3 Scale Chromatic - Observable notebook
• Optional Reference: Visual Thinking for Information Design (2nd Ed.) by Colin Ware - Chapters on color

Week 6 (Oct 9) - Group Projects and Design Ethics

• Slides: Group Projects

  Lab: Intro to Interactions and Deceptive Visualizations

• Topics: Group project overview, 5 milestones (Proposal through Final), Team formation, Dataset selection, Deceptive visualization and ethics
• Lab: Team formation activities, Dataset exploration, Project brainstorming
• Action Items:
  • Form teams by Oct 16 (use Discord #project-teams)
  • Browse datasets for project ideas
  • Exercise 6 - Misleading vs. honest visualization (due Oct 15)
  • Project Proposal due Oct 19
• Required Readings:
  • Tufte Ch 2 - Graphical Integrity
  • Misinformed by Visualization - Lo, Gupta & Shigyo (EuroVis 2022)

Week 7 (Oct 16) - Interaction in Visualization

• Slides: Interactivity in Information Visualization

  Lab: Building Interactive Visualizations

• Topics: Why interaction matters, Shneiderman’s Mantra, 12 interactive dynamics (Visualize, Filter, Sort, Derive, Select, Navigate, Coordinate, Organize, Record, Annotate, Share, Guide), Modern interaction frameworks (Libra)
• Lab: Interactive D3 techniques, Brushing and linking, Dynamic queries
• Assignment: Exercise 7 - Interactive visualization design and implementation (due Oct 22)
• Required Readings:
  • Shneiderman (1996) - The Eyes Have It
  • Heer & Shneiderman (2012) - Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis
• Recommended Readings:
  • Yi et al. (2007) - Toward a Deeper Understanding of Interaction
  • Pike et al. (2009) - The Science of Interaction
  • Zhao et al. (2025) - Libra: Composable Interactions

Week 8 (Oct 23) - Foundations of Geovisualization: 2D Maps

• Slides: Foundations of Geovisualization

  Live Demo: Leaflet.js

  Lab: Plotting and Troubleshooting GeoJSON with D3

• Topics: Map projections (Mercator, Albers, Azimuthal), Choropleth pitfalls (normalization, classification, color, MAUP), Map taxonomy (choropleth, proportional symbol, cartogram, flow), GeoJSON/TopoJSON formats, Leaflet.js implementation
• Lab: Creating interactive geographic visualizations with Leaflet and D3
• Assignment: Exercise 8 - Geographic visualization with proper normalization and projection (due Oct 29)
• Required Readings:
  • Datawrapper Guide to Choropleth Maps
  • When Maps Shouldn’t Be Maps - Matthew Ericson (NYT)
• Recommended Resources:
  • The True Size Of… - Interactive projection demo
  • Reuters: The True Size of Africa
  • Tissot’s Indicatrix Explorer
• Supplemental Material: GeoJSON format, TopoJSON optimization, Data classification methods (Equal Interval, Quantile, Jenks), Leaflet.js tutorial

Week 9 (Oct 30) - Urban Visualization I: Flows, Time & Interactivity [WIP - DRAFT]

• Slides: Urban Visualization I (draft - figures needed)

  Lab: Building interactive spatio-temporal visualization

• Topics: Urban data characteristics (scale, density, complexity, dynamism), Visual query models, TaxiVis case study (brushing & linking, temporal/spatial queries, origin-destination flows), Performance optimization (k-d trees, LOD rendering), Case studies (social inequality, transportation hubs, Hurricane Sandy)
• Lab: Building interactive spatio-temporal visualizations, Implementing linked views
• Assignment: Exercise 9 - Urban data exploration and visual queries (due Nov 5)
• Required Readings:
  • Ferreira et al. (2013) - TaxiVis: An Interactive Visualization System for Taxi Trajectories - IEEE VAST 2013
  • NYC Taxi Open Data
• Recommended Resources:
  • Hägerstrand’s Space-Time Cube
  • Peuquet’s Triad Framework
• Supplemental Material: Visual analytics framework, Confirmatory vs exploratory analysis, Real-time data indexing

Week 10 (Nov 6) - Urban Visualization II: 3D Form, Design & Simulation [WIP - DRAFT]

• Slides: Urban Visualization II (draft - figures needed)

  Lab: 3D Visualization: Transformations

• Topics: Kevin Lynch’s “Image of the City”, 3D urban planning challenges, Urbane framework (linking 3D city models with 2D data views), Interactive impact analysis (sky exposure, shadows, viewsheds), Performance-driven design (exploring thousands of building variants), Critical reflection on when to use 3D
• Lab: 3D Visualization: Transformations, Matrix Operations, Model-View-Projections
• Assignment: Exercise 10 - 3D urban visualization and impact analysis (due Nov 12)
• Required Readings:
  • Poco et al. (2015) - Exploring the Design Space of Interactive Urban Visualization - IEEE VIS 2015
  • Lynch (1960) - The Image of the City (excerpts)
• Recommended Resources:
  • CesiumJS - 3D geospatial visualization
  • Deck.gl - GPU-powered visualization layers
  • 3D Building Models
• Supplemental Material: When to use 2D vs 3D, Hybrid visualization approaches, Precomputation for real-time queries

Week 11 (Nov 13) - Visualizing Time-Oriented Data

• Slides: Visualizing Time-Oriented Data

  Lab: Building temporal visualizations, Time series analysis with D3

• Topics: Temporal data fundamentals (event vs measurement data), Time structures (sequential, cyclic, hierarchical), Line charts and aspect ratios (Banking to 45°), Multiple time series (spaghetti plots, small multiples), Stacked area charts and limitations, Interaction techniques (semantic vs geometric zoom), Heat maps and calendar visualizations, Periodic patterns (radial layouts, spirals), Horizon charts and sparklines
• Lab: Building temporal visualizations, Time series analysis with D3
• Assignment: Exercise 11 - Temporal data visualization (due Nov 19)
• Required Readings:
  • Cleveland et al. (1988) - The Shape Parameter of a Two-Variable Graph - JASA
  • Heer et al. (2009) - Sizing the Horizon: Chart Size and Layering Effects - CHI
• Recommended Resources:
  • WSJ Vaccine Impact Visualization - Famous heat map example
  • D3 Time Scales Documentation
  • Weber et al. (2001) - Visualizing Time-Series on Spirals - IEEE InfoVis
• Supplemental Material: Aggregation trade-offs, Baseline bias in stacked charts, When to use radial vs linear layouts

Week 12 (Nov 20) - Clustering and Dimensionality Reduction

• Slides: Clustering and Dimensionality Reduction

  Lab: Dimensionality Reduction with D3

• Topics: Clustering visualization (K-means, hierarchical clustering, comparing methods), Dimensionality reduction fundamentals, Linear methods (PCA), Non-linear methods (t-SNE, UMAP), Critical visualization principles for high-dimensional data
• Lab: Implementing PCA and t-SNE visualizations with D3
• Assignment: Exercise 12 - Clustering and dimensionality reduction visualization (due Dec 3)
• Required Readings:
  • van der Maaten & Hinton (2008) - Visualizing Data using t-SNE - JMLR
  • Wattenberg et al. (2016) - How to Use t-SNE Effectively - Distill
• Recommended Resources:
  • Understanding UMAP - Google PAIR
  • PCA Explained Visually
• Supplemental Material: Curse of dimensionality, Cluster validation metrics, Choosing perplexity parameters

No Class (Nov 27) - Thanksgiving Recess

Week 13 (Dec 4) - Visualizing Network Data

• Slides: Visualizing Network Data
• Topics: Network fundamentals (nodes, edges, degree, paths), Force-directed layouts, Fixed layouts and edge bundling, Matrix representations, Clutter reduction techniques, Tree visualization (node-link diagrams, dendrograms, treemaps, sunburst/icicle plots)
• Lab: Building network visualizations with D3 force simulation
• Assignment: Exercise 13 - Network and tree visualization (due Dec 10)
• Required Readings:
  • Munzner (2014) - Visualization Analysis & Design, Chapter 9 (Networks)
  • Bostock - D3 Force-Directed Graph
• Recommended Resources:
  • Force-Directed Graph Gallery
  • Hierarchical Edge Bundling
• Supplemental Material: Force simulation parameters, Layout algorithms comparison, When to use matrices vs node-link diagrams

Week 14 (Dec 11) - Final Project Presentations

• Topics: Group project presentations (Milestone 5)
• Final Deliverables:
  • Project website with complete interactive visualizations
  • Process documentation and design rationale
  • 10-minute team presentation
  • Individual reflection submissions

Assignments

Exercises (35% of grade)

• Exercise 1: Visualization critique and basic Vega-Lite charts - Due Sept 10
• Exercise 2: Data questions and transformations - Due Sept 17
• Exercise 3: Chart design and encoding alternatives - Due Sept 24
• Exercise 4: Perception-based design + D3 implementation - Due Oct 1
• Exercise 5: Color scale design and implementation - Due Oct 8
• More exercises TBA

Mini-Projects (35% of grade)

• Mini-Project 1: Geographic data visualization - Details TBA
• Mini-Project 2: Temporal data visualization - Details TBA
• Mini-Project 3: Network data visualization - Details TBA

Group Project (25% of grade)

• Milestone 1: Project Proposal - Due Oct 19
• Milestone 2: Data Analysis & Sketches - Due Nov 2
• Milestone 3: First Draft (D3 implementations) - Due Nov 16
• Milestone 4: Second Draft (Complete article) - Due Nov 30
• Milestone 5: Final Submission & Presentations - Due Dec 7 (Presentations Dec 11)

Quick Links

• Discord: Invite link to be posted before the first class
• Brightspace: [Course materials and submissions]
• Observable: Create account at observablehq.com
• Office Hours: TBA