#37 Data Visualization Made Simple with Dr. Kristen Sosulski - Associate Professor of Data Visualization NYU Stern, Director of Learning Science Lab and Consultant

In this episode I talk to Kristen Sosulski who is the Data Visualization Professor at NYU Stern School of Business. She has just written the book Data Visualization Made Simple: Insights Into Becoming Visual. An interest in using technology to help students learn has led to helping people to understand how to use data visualizations to communicate insights to others.

Kristen and I discuss guidelines on creating data visualizations, why presenting data visualizations is as important as creating them, and how the software needs to improve. 

Dr Kristen Sosulski is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She teaches MBA, undergraduate, executive, and online courses in data visualization and computer programming. She is also the Director of the Learning Science Lab for the NYU Stern where she leads teams in design immersive learning environments for professional business school education. 

Summary

• Kristen’s journey from doing her undergraduate in Information Systems at NYU Stern School of Business to being a professor there teaching Data Visualization (00:17)

• How Kristen’s love of technology led to an interest in using technology to help students learn (01:38)

• The challenges of trying to create an immersive learning environment in the late 90s (02:41)

• What led to Kristen working with data visualization (03:38)

• How Kristen thinks about data visualization and designing data graphics (06:14)

• Some guidelines and thoughts on presenting data to an audience (08:03)

• How people learn to improve their data graphics (11:15)

• The importance of showing your work and getting feedback (14:18)

• The challenges Kristen finds when consulting for companies in data visualisation (17:08)

• The value of data visualization in a data driven organisation (19:54)

• Why Kristen wrote her book on data visualization and why she included case studies (21:14)

• Some resources that Kristen created for the book (23:40)

• Her work in building NYU’s online education and the use of learning analytics (27:11)

• Why there needs to be more training in how to visualize data and to understand what it means (30:10)

• Designing a dashboard for user driven storytelling (33:41)

• How Kristen would like data visualization to evolve in the future (36:44)

• Mistakes people make when creating visualizations (38:51)

• How Kristen developed and improves her work and the value of sharing your mistakes (41:33)

• The importance of understanding what your data means in the real world (42:49)

Links

Data Visualization Made Simple: Insights into Becoming Visual by Kristen Sosulski

https://www.amazon.com/Data-Visualization-Made-Simple-Insights/dp1138503916

The Online Certificate in Visualizing Data

Taught by Kristen Sosulski via NYU Stern School of Business

https://www.stern.nyu.edu/programs-admissions/online-certificate-courses/visualizing-data

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