Data Communicator

Issued by North Carolina State Executive Education

Program participants develop foundational level skills and knowledge of tools used to create data visualizations, as well as storytelling techniques to target audiences. Badge earners can fluently communicate to audiences with appropriate and engaging data visualizations. They develop competencies utilizing visualization packages in R & Python, interactive web-based visualizations, storyboards, and finished presentations.

Type Certification
Level Foundational
Time Weeks
Cost Paid

Skills

Earning Criteria

Over the course of 6 weeks, complete 3 “Data Visualization” classes which overview visualization principles, tools, best practices, and how to design effective user experiences. Topics also include how to build visualizations with libraries such as Matplotlib, Seaborn and Plotly; how to construct interactive visualizations with Shiny and D3.js; and how to apply many of the course topics to build full-fledged visualization-based applications.
Over the course of 6 weeks, complete a “Storytelling” class which overviews data storytelling as a powerful technique for tailoring results to specific user groups (e.g. students, clinicians, patients, or the general public) and presenting them in a way that is easy to interpret and recall. Topics include data integration, domain expertise, intuitive visualization, and narration. It also provides techniques, common data story types, strategies, and structure.
Visualization Projects: (1) Critique 3 visualizations; (2) Program 4 different visualizations in a Python or R library.
Storytelling Projects: (1) "Big Idea" worksheet; (2) Create a story describing the setting/situation, characters, conflict, and resolution; (3) Storyboard / outline a presentation.