The document provides information about data and GIS services available at Duke University. It describes the Brandaleone Family Center for Data and GIS Services which contains workstations and software for data analysis, visualization, and GIS. It outlines support areas like finding data, storing data, managing data, analyzing data, visualizing data, and tips for working with data and creating visualizations. It also advertises an upcoming student data visualization contest.

1. Making the most of your data:
Duke Data & GIS Services
Angela Zoss
Data Visualization Coordinator
November 20, 2013
http://library.duke.edu/data

2. Data & GIS Services
• Perkins 226 computing cluster
• Walk-in consultations
• Data collections
• Workshops
• Online instructional materials

3. Brandaleone Family Center for
Data and GIS Services
• Perkins 226
• Open whenever the library
is open
• 12 high-powered Dell
workstations
• 3 Bloomberg financial
workstations
• Various data analysis, GIS,
and visualization software
packages available
http://library.duke.edu/data/about/lab.html

4. Walk-in Consulting
…or by appointment:
askdata@duke.edu
http://library.duke.edu/data/about/schedule.html

5. Workshops
• Typically toward the beginning of the semester
• 1-2 hours, often hands-on
• Various topics, including Data Processing/Statistical
Software Packages, GIS/Mapping, Visualization
http://library.duke.edu/data/news
For announcements, sign up for our listserv:
https://lists.duke.edu/sympa/subscribe/dgs-announce
Or watch our blog and twitter accounts:
http://blogs.library.duke.edu/data/, @duke_data, @duke_vis

6. SUPPORT AREAS

7. Support Area: Finding Data
• Browse our curated collections list at:
http://library.duke.edu/data/collections/
(includes data sets specially licensed for Duke)
• Email askdata@duke.edu and we’ll do some research
for you!
• Guides for special types of data
– Census
http://guides.library.duke.edu/content.php?pid=32369
– Housing
http://library.duke.edu/data/courses/housing_foreclosures.html
– Comtrade
http://guides.library.duke.edu/comtrade

8. Support Area: Storing Data
• Newest support area
• Storage & Compute Environments Comparison:
http://goo.gl/fGflCB

9. Support Area: Managing Data
• Data Management Guide:
http://library.duke.edu/data/guides/data-management/index.html
• DMP Tool @ Duke:
http://blogs.library.duke.edu/data/2013/07/12/data-managementplanning-advice-dmptool-duke/

10. Support Area: Analyzing Data
• Available data analysis software packages:
– Open Refine (also offer a workshop)
– R (also offer a workshop)
– Stata (also offer a workshop)
– SAS
– SPSS
• Additional workshop on text analysis techniques
• Walk-in consulting for real-time support
http://library.duke.edu/data/guides/

11. Support Area: Visualizing Data
http://guides.library.duke.edu/datavis/

12. Support Area: Visualizing Data
• GIS (Geographic Information Systems) support
– Workshops on ArcGIS and other online mapping tools
– High powered computers with GIS software
– Expert help from Data & GIS Staff
• Visualization support, more broadly
– Workshops on Tableau Public and best practices for
charts, graphs, posters, etc.

13. DATA TIPS
See especially:
https://github.com/veltman/learninglunches/tree/master/datahygiene

14. Data Tips: Make a Copy
• Never process the only copy of your data
• Keep backups – onsite and offsite

15. Data Tips: Take Note
• Keep track of the processing steps you’ve taken
• If possible, use tools that have commands or scripts
• Document the reasons behind your decisions

16. Data Tips: Check Your Sources
• Garbage in, garbage out
• Level of analysis

17. Data Tips: Easy Come, Easy Go
• Be wary of Excel
– Volatile (easy to accidentally introduce errors)
– Deceptively opaque
– Limited validation capabilities
– Better for simple data structures
• Tips
– Save often, multiple copies
– Document processing steps (manually if necessary)
– Introduction some validation checks (formulas,
visualizations)
– Switch to database?

18. Visualization Tips
In a nutshell:
Simplify (but not the axis)
• Reduce color
• Focus on major trends
• Consistent style/format/reference system
• Do extra calculations so the users won’t have to
http://guides.library.duke.edu/topten

19. SHAMELESS PLUG

20. 2014 Student Data Visualization Contest
http://bit.ly/viscontest14 | http://bit.ly/visgallery
• Open to all Duke students
• Submit any type of
visualization
• Deadline January 19
• 2014 Awards:
– Amazon gift cards (up to $250)
– public exhibits
– posters

21. QUESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS?
angela.zoss@duke.edu
http://twitter.com/duke_vis