In a world where an average of more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is generated by people each day, the decision making processes of all organizations are bound to run as smooth as silk (in theory). But the abundance and nearly-limitless accessibility of this data have proven to be counter productive in choosing the right approach of data and information representation to make insightful decisions. However, as intriguing as it is to become a compelling data-driven storyteller, the transformation of data and information into visual context is a delicate art to master. This is why, as the Statistics Society of University of Sri Jayewardenepura with a duty to inspire the future Statisticians to achieve academic and corporate excellence, we decided to take the first dive into Data Visualization on 16th July, 2021 from 5.00pm onwards.
The data visualization workshop was deemed as the stepping stone of Pearl Viz ‘21, the Data Visualization competition organized to be held in August by the Statistics Society with the participation of both internal and external university undergraduates who posses a knack for experimenting with data to arrive at insightful conclusions and recommendations. The speaker of the session was none other than our very own Mr. Janith Wanniarrachchi, President of the Statistics Society, trainee data analyst at Trabeya, a humble contributor of two R packages maintained by Dr. Thiyanga Thalagala and above all a significant inspiration for all data science enthusiasts in the Statistics Society and beyond.
The session took place over Zoom with 60+ active participants comprising undergraduates from University of Sri Jayewardenepura and other universities representing various study areas in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics). Among the discussed topics, understanding the rationale behind “Why am I choosing this visual cue to convey this particular data or information” played a significant role in educating the participants to take an inquisitive and mindful approach when choosing the best visualization that fits the purpose. Moreover, the disclosure of a plethora of easy-to-understand and user-friendly software anyone can learn in record time and where and how to obtain the data required for the analysis was especially helpful to all budding data scientists. After pointing out the common pitfalls that anyone can encounter in their journey with data, the session ended with an informative demonstration of creating insightful visualizations related to the musical journey of American singer and songwriter Pink on Google Data Studio.
While marking the end of a successful session of a series of informative and interactive data visualization events, we express our heartfelt gratitude to our beloved Senior Treasurer, Dr. Rajitha Silva for being our pillar of strength, encouraging us to step into the unknown while providing an unceasing level of support and strength. And of course to our wonderful speaker for the session, Mr. Janith Wanniarachchi, President of the Statistics Society, thank you for taking your valuable time in addressing a topic crucial yet not talked about very often in the data science arena. The reason behind this fruitful attempt remains as the agile organizing committee of Pearl Viz ‘21 along with each and every board member of the Statistics Society who consistently dedicate themselves in adding value to the Statistics Society and all its projects.
Finally, thank you for joining in on the session, for your participation is what pushes us to do great things!
Slides are available at; https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19v6ngh-fiVCoybVemLfqg01a4bsVgnrIwiVq7gWEYxs/edit?usp=sharing
Datasets used in the demonstration;
Pink’s song features;
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gsuv99ESekJg3-jt80TTvnk2b1qa6QZc4_rRUZD2Dd4/edit?usp=sharing
Pink’s songs
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cfYmRDVPicqLwOA5lDw4URkE1xfZzVyGU6YZRE_yAyQ/edit?usp=sharing