Tools for the Data Contest

The Student Data Contest is in less than two weeks, so it’s time to get your tools ready. If you are a student and want a shot at $2,100 in prizes, signup for the contest. 

One of the best tools available for quickly visualizing data is Tableau, and best of all, if you don’t need to connect to a database, Tableau Public is free.  Tableau allows you to quickly produce beautiful charts and tables, and makes it easy to embed those visualizations on the web.  Tableau runs on both Mac and Windows, but while it has a very well designed user interface, it does have its biases; you’ll want to spend some time learning how it expects you to build visualizations before the contest.

So, download Tableau Public  and spend a bit of time learning how to produce basic visualizations.  It will really pay off during the contest, and you’ll have a valuable addition to your tool box for future use.