Grammar of Graphics – theory to implementation

PSI VIS SIG Webinar
19 May 2021
Slides

Synopsis

In this talk we’ll introduce the Grammar of Graphics, which allows you to compose graphs by combining independent components, and the implementation of this theory in R — the ggplot2 package. We will describe the basics of building plots with ggplot2 and touch on a few approaches for customizing the plots. We will also highlight a few packages that are built to supplement ggplot2.

Learnings

• Fundemantals of the theory of the Grammar of Graphics
• Basics of building plots with ggplot2, layer by layer
• Customizing plots with functionality that comes with the ggplot2 package as well as supplemented by other packages

Abstract

In this talk we’ll introduce the Grammar of Graphics, which allows you to compose graphs by combining independent components, and the implementation of this theory in R — the ggplot2 package. We will describe the basics of building plots, introduce commonly used geoms and statistical functions used to calculate these geoms. We will also touch on customizing ggplot2 defaults such as themes and colors. Additionaly, we will highlight a few packages that are built to supplement ggplot2 by adding features that ease highglighting and annotation as well as additional geoms.

Bio

Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel is Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics at University of Edinburgh, Data Scientist and Professional Educator at RStudio, and Associate Professor of the Practice position at the Department of Statistical Science at Duke University. Mine’s work focuses on innovation in statistics and data science pedagogy, with an emphasis on computing, reproducible research, student-centered learning, and open-source education as well as pedagogical approaches for enhancing retention of women and under-represented minorities in STEM. Mine also works on the OpenIntro project and she is the creator and maintainer of datasciencebox.org.