Digital Dissemination of Statistics: Focus on Data Visualisation – Intermediate Course

Course Leader

Karolien van Wijk

ESS staff with some basic knowledge of data visualisation (either statisticians or working in the communication/dissemination/ press departments and have already produced some type of visualisations).

Sound command of English. This course is intended for ESS staff with basic experience in data visualisation, including statisticians and staff working in communication, dissemination, or press units. Participants should have prior exposure to creating simple visualisations and an interest in improving their skills in visual storytelling and data dissemination.

• The course should provide participants with a better understanding of the principles of creating, developing and disseminating data visualisations, both static and interactive. The course should also cover other forms of data dissemination such as digital publications and videos. 

• The participants should be actively involved through discussions and team or individual hands-on exercises. 

The course should focus on the following: 

½ day (Introduction) 

• Examples of best practises in data visualisations & their dissemination, discussion of do's and don'ts based on participants own experience in the field

• Understanding how people/users view and process visualisations 

• What are the possibilities, which designs fit which type of data, what are the “right” charts? 

• Where to start? Which are “good” data to visualise? How do get them “out” so that people notice (e.g. focus on social media)?   dissemination, discussion of do's and don'ts based on participants own experience in the field 

• Understanding how people/users view and process visualisations 

• What are the possibilities, which designs fit which type of data, what are the “right” charts? 

• Where to start? Which are “good” data to visualise? How do get them “out” so that people notice (e.g. focus on social media)?   

Multiple examples should be provided/presented, with a focus on EU statistics and popular visualisations done by experts in the field and/or journalists. Participants should be encouraged to actively discuss and share experiences. 

½ day 

• Creating graphs and charts with maximum impact and memorability 

• Turning data into visualisations 

• How to “story tell” the data with visualisations 

• Techniques, tools and programs that create interactive infographics design 

Again, this should be accompanied with "good" and "bad" examples, with a focus on EU statistics and visualizations used by journalists. Participants should be actively involved. 

½ day 

Practical hands-on session: 

• Making participants think visually and express their ideas in visual form (on paper or blackboard, working in teams of 2 or 3 & presentation of results to the whole group)  Creating own visualisations (individual task) and presenting them to the other members (for those participants who feel confident to do it using PCs with some basic programs (e.g. coding in html); others can do it on paper) ½ day 

Other forms to visualise data with examples and some best practises + tips:   

• digital publications which present statistics 

• videos, GIFs and animations 

• Use of tools like Canva, Adobe Illustrator or equivalents for data visualization 

• Use of IMAGE tool (Eurostat) to create maps with statistical data 

By the end of the module, participants will be able to understand and apply key principles of data visualisation, identify and use selected open-source data visualisation tools, and implement current best practices through practical examples and hands-on exercises drawn from the ESS and data visualisation experts.

• Presentations and lectures

• Exchange of views/experiences on national practices

• Exercises/Livecharts

• Creation of social media-messages

• Tour of the floor and studio 

Required Reading 

None

In order to apply the learning materials to the participants’ own work and experience, each participant should bring a visualisation (or publication containing visualisations) of their own production to class, preferably digital.

Karolien van Wijk (CBS Netherlands)