Building Interactive Data Visualizations With Google Docs

Classroom

What You’ll Learn

What percentage of social network users are on Facebook? How much does a high batting average relate to actual runs scored? These questions and more are easy to answer with the right tools.

Ben Jackson is an app developer and writer who loves making charts. In this workshop, he'll teach you how to turn hundreds of lines of data into interactive HTML5 charts using Google Docs with Pivot Tables and Google Charts. The workshop will cover data visualization with bar, pie and line charts, and will touch upon some more advanced topics like scatter charts, map charts, and importing data directly from external sources like Wikipedia.

The class will consist of an hour-long lecture/demo, followed by thirty minutes of Q&A. Students will leave equipped to tackle their own datasets, and are welcome to bring any data samples to the class in CSV, TSV, or Excel format.

Beginner Level

Students should be comfortable with basic Excel or Google Spreadsheets, and bring a laptop if they wish to follow along in the shared document.

About Your Teacher See Full Bio

Benjamin Jackson · iOS Developer, Longform.org

Ben Jackson is an iOS app developer whose professional experience spans print, web and mobile apps. He currently spends most of his time on the Longform.org app. Previously, Ben worked as a software engineer on the New York Times mobile team. He's also a contributing tech writer, and his work has appeared in The Next Web, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Mashable and Wired. His data piece for The Next Web on Kickstarter projects is worth reading if you like charts.