Technology Learning Studio

For the Fall 2017 semester, I'm enrolled in Dr. Howison's Technology Learning Studio in the School of Information at the University of Texas.

I'll keep track of three learning projects in this repo. Two of those projects will focus on learning to use D3 with Scott Murray's Interactive Data Visualization for the Web. The third will be learning to crochet through a sampler scarf.

Learning D3

D3, or data-driven documents, is a JavaScript library for creating highly customizable visualizations.

Goals

Simple - Complete the second D3 Makeover challenge by remaking this visualization using D3 and submit it with the #d3Makeover hastag on Twitter.

Stretch - Apply my new D3 knowledge to a problem out in the wild. The Data for Democracy hackathon is right at the end of the first unit, so I'll attend and see where I can jump in.

Materials

• Interactive Data Visualization for the Web by Scott Murray
• The D3 Slack
  • #help
  • #learning-materials
  • #d3-makeover
• The Data for Democracy Slack
  • #learning
  • #viz-kids
• The D3 wiki
• The source page for the D3 Makeover challenge

Using D3 with Geospatial Data

I'm using D3 as a way to explore mapping and geospatial data.

Goals

Simple - Complete the first D3 Makeover challenge by remaking this map using D3

Stretch - Make the map interactive.

Materials

• Interactive Data Visualization for the Web by Scott Murray, especially Chapter 14: Geomapping
• The #geo channel on the D3 Slack
• The Spatial Community Slack
  • #d3
  • #dataviz

Learning Open Source

After getting started with D3, I got involved in a community project for consumer protection in Ausitn using the city's data about financial complaints. In working on that, I made the mistake of committing directly to master instead of working in a branch and making a pull request. That got me thinking about the processes involved in contributing to open source projects and the competencies that are required, which I'd like to learn more about. Serendipitously, the month of October is Hacktoberfest, in which open source projects take extra steps to make sure they're welcoming new contributors. To participate, you just have to sign up with your GitHub account.

Goals

Simple - Make a successful pull request. I'm defining "successful" as a pull request that is accepted by an open source community that I've oriented myself to via standard open source resources (like contributing.md).

Stretch - Complete Hacktoberfest, which requires making four pull requests. That averages out to one per week, which should be doable if I don't try to do anything too fancy. However, I'd like to learn about some of the technologies surrounding open source projects, like setting up a particular development environment or using Docker, which could slow down my progress.

Materials

• A list of projects participating in Hactoberfest
• A list of open source projects that have tasks for beginners
• This guide for contributing to open source
• Bugs Ahoy!
• Projects that are known for welcoming new contributors
• http://www.firsttimersonly.com/
• An example of a git workflow for reference

Learning Crochet

There's a third project for this course that focuses on a physical technology, for which I've chosen crochet. That project is available on Ravelry.

Goals

Simple - Learn basic crochet.

Stretch - Complete a sampler scarf.

Materials

• The crochet pattern
• Classes at Gauge
  • Drop in
  • Monthly
• The Austin Knitting and Crocheting Meetup