Functional Art, The: An introduction to information graphics and visualization

October 14th, 2012

The first Massive Open Online Course about infographics and data visualization.

(UPDATE, Oct. 13th: The Knight Center has told me that, due to server limits, they have been forced to put a cap on the amount of participants. In any case, the course will be offered again in January. This situation was unexpected, and it is due to the fact that this is the first experiment the Center does with this kind of program. They are trying to avoid server blackouts. I’ll do my best to accommodate everybody who wants to sign up by offering it as many times as needed in the next months.)
I am happy to announce that, starting October 28th, I will conduct a new workshop: a six-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) about infographics and data visualization through the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

This program is a variation of other workshops/courses I’ve done with the Knight Center in the past; those had a limited amount of students. In this case, the course will be offerend in English and it’s free. I created it with journalists and designers in mind, but it can be helpful to anybody interested in learning the theory and practice of information graphics.

No previous experience is required. You don’t need to know how to use any software tool, either. You will learn a bit about that, actually. As I say in the description:
“I cannot promise that you will become a master infographics designer or data visualizer by the end of these six weeks. To achieve that, you would need to come to the University of Miami and join either our MA in Journalism or our MFA in Interactive Media. However, I will make sure that you will get enough skills and conceptual knowledge to get you started in the exciting field of presenting data and phenomena through charts, maps, and diagrams.”
Read more details about the course here and here After that, sign up. This should be a fun experiment. Please spread the word.

I hope I’ll see you all there.
Alberto Cairo

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