Research Data Management

RED 654: Data Visualization and Graphical Communication

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Kaylee Alexander, Assistant Research Data Librarian 
LIVE SESSION: Tuesday, October 30, 2024 @ 3:00pm–4:00pm (Zoom)

SUMMARY: In this REd Best Practice Networks course, we will work with Edward Tufte’s theory of data graphics to cover best practices in graphical communication for creating effective data visualizations. Topics to be addressed include the data-ink ratio, accessibility, pre-attentive processing, cognitive load, visual emphasis, and misleading visualizations. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to 1) identify graphic design principles related to data visualization practices; 2) discuss how human perception affects data visualization design; 3) critique and propose solutions to misleading visualizations; and 4) demonstrate a foundational knowledge of trustworthy, accessible, and elegant data visualization design.

Visit the REd website for registration information.

There are many excellent data management training resources available for free online. Here are a few that we recommend:

DataONE
The DataONE website includes education modules, webinars, and screencast tutorials on data management. The resources page also includes an investigators toolkit, a best practices primer for data management, and examples of Data Management Plans.

ICPSR
The University of Michigan's ICPSR Data Management and Curation webpage is a fantastic resource to learn more about social science data management. Learn how to prepare data for archiving, create data management plans, and cite datasets.

Below, you'll find a list of recent past workshops led by data management librarians at the U. Most of our slides and materials for these workshops are available below, but if you would like us to lead one of these or a similar workshop for your class or research group, contact us at mlib-data@lists.utah.edu! 

Presentation slides, recordings, and workshop documentation created by the data librarians at the J. Willard Marriott Library. All slides are available through a Creative Commons CC BY license, which means they can be shared and adapted freely with attribution.

Intro to Data Visualization with Tableau

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Kaylee Alexander, Research Data Librarian 
LIVE SESSION: Thursday, September 14, 2023

SUMMARY: In this introduction to Tableau, participants learned about the software's basic functions and more advanced capabilities as well as receive hands-on training using the web authoring feature in Tableau Public. We worked with a humanities dataset to demonstrate strategies for visualizing unconventional data. No prior experience with data visualization or Tableau was required. 

Workshop Materials are available on UBox for download and use as a self-guided tutorial. 

Data Management for Undergraduate Researchers

INSTRUCTOR: Madison Golden, Research Data Librarian 
LIVE SESSION: Tuesday, February 13, 2024

SUMMARY: This session covers the fundamentals of RDM techniques and best practices, ranging from proper file management to protecting sensitive data. Implementing these practices will help researchers at all levels increase the efficacy and reproducibility of their work.

Contact Us!

Your Research Data Librarians at the J. Willard Marriott Library are happy to answer any questions you may have related to data management compliance with various funding sources and offer one-on-one consultation appointments focused on your specific project's needs. If you would like to request a consultation or schedule data management training for your class or department, contact Kaylee Alexander (kaylee.alexander@utah.edu) or Madison Golden (madison.golden@utah.edu). 

Presentation slides created by the data librarians at the J. Willard Marriott Library. All slides are available through a Creative Commons CC BY license, which means they can be shared and adapted freely with attribution.