Figures, and Charts, and Tables, Oh My! - A Workshop on Data Visualization Literacy

Data visualization (DV) literacy is becoming a more important skill for the public. Many disciplines are poised to help improve DV literacy among students. In this workshop, we begin by considering how sociology can meet DV literacy needs. We invite participants to reflect on how their discipline can support DV literacy and consider how DV literacy matters for workforce development and democratic participation for their students. We will present the results of our study of 463 data visualizations from 27 textbooks for Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, and intermediate elective courses. Our study illuminates how textbooks can be used to promote DV literacy and identify their limitations (e.g., reliant on a narrow range of data visualizations). Textbooks offer an opportunity to promote DV literacy in the sociology curriculum. However, we will also demonstrate how other resources (e.g., “What’s Going on in This Graph?”) can be used to support DV literacy within sociology, but also across disciplines. Our workshop will include breakout groups and hands-on activities so that participants can gain experience using online tools to support DV literacy.