Z604/Z672 Comic Books and Their Readers

Digital and Empirical Methods for Studying Readership and Fandom
Spring 2024

12:40 - 15:15 Wednesday, Sycamore Hall (SY) 103

Instructor: Associate Professor John A. Walsh, jawalsh@indiana.edu.
Office Hours: Schedule at https://fantastical.app/jawalsh-r1Wz/office-hours.

Associate Instructor: Alex Wingate, alewinga@iu.edu
Office Hours: Thursdays, 1:30pm-2:45pm, and by appointment (click Zoom link in Alex’s profile)

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Tableau Lab

Instructions

You will use Tableau to create 1 visualization based on data from the Cooper Comics Collection and then describe what the visualization tells us.

1. Download and explore the data
   • Download the data from the Cooper Comics Collection and take a minute to look through it in Excel. What would be an interesting question to answer with this data and how would you visualize it? (A different one from what you did in the Excel lab!)
2. Import data into Tableau
   • Create a new project in Tableau and connect the Cooper Comics excel file to it
   • Choose which sheet(s) you’ll be using the data from. If you’re using data from multiple sheets, remember to connect it through a shared column
3. Visualize your data
   • Create an attractive and clear visualization from the data
   • Make sure to include proper titles and legends
4. Export your visualization
   • Export your visualization as an image from Tableau
5. Contextualize your visualization
   • In a Word document, insert the image of your visualization and write 2-4 sentences explaining what this visualization tell us.

To turn in

• A Word document containing the visualization and an explanation of the visualization
• There are 5 possible bonus points if you turn in a second visualization and explanation (need both components!).

Turn in to the Week 10 Lab assignment on Canvas, either as part of the same document or a different document from the visualizations you generated in Excel.