Event Details

Join Lauren Milne (Math, Statistics, & Computer Science) for a discussion “Non-visual Visualizations: Making Accessible Data Visualizations in R.” At the beginning of the pandemic, data visualizations such as the CDC's "Flatten the Curve" graphic and the COVID dashboards on government and media websites became increasingly important tools for people to understand the pandemic and make informed choices about their safety. However, those (and most other data visualizations) are completely inaccessible for someone who is blind. In this talk, I will cover how to make accessible data visualizations, from alt text to sonification, using the Highcharter package in the R programming language. I will present the (freely available) module I created for my Introduction to Data Science class on creating accessible visualizations in R and talk about other efforts to bring accessibility into my curriculum. Lunch will be provided. This event is part of Macalester's Radical MacACCESS programming and is open to students, faculty, and staff.