InfoGuides: Data Visualization: Tableau

Tableau is data visualization software (aka Business Intelligence, Analytics). It enables fast creation of static or interactive InfoGraphics, including charts and maps. It is designed for large businesses, with pricing per user per month.

See this page in two guides:

Access to Tableau

Tableau Desktop / Prep

Tableau offers a FREE Academic license (teaching and learning only) for students and teaching faculty
Data & Digital Scholarship Services computers in Fenwick Library (Academic License). Note: we don't give out licenses. Students and faculty should follow the link above for requesting an academic license.
30-day free trial.

Tableau Public

Tableau Public is FREE for everybody.
Can only use data from files or a web data connector (up to 15 mil rows/workbook)
Data and Visualizations must be saved/published online (max 10 GB)
- Can prevent the data and/or workbook file from being downloaded
- Can hide a visualization so it does not appear on your profile or in the search
- These do not make the data or visualization entirely private.

Learning

Resources from Tableau

Start with the Getting Started Guide and Starter Kit
Switch From Excel: Videos: Part I and Part 2
Attend FREE instructor-led interactive seminars
Find answers from Support and the Knowledge Base
Pay $5-$10/month for eLearning videos
Watch Video Tutorials or Tableau on YouTube
- See especially the series Talk Data to Me
Learn more from their Blog and Whitepapers
Sign up for the Viz of the Day email

Tableau Zen Masters

Look for material written by a Tableau Zen Master, who have been selected based off knowledge and teaching. See Especially those by the Hall of Fame Zen Masters. For example:

Andy Kriebel / VizWiz - Great step-by-step instructions
- Video: Tips & Tricks Charts Edition [download workbook]: Shows how to create lots of different types of charts (very quickly)
Matt Chambers / Sir Viz-a-Lot - Makes innovative graphs

Learn More

Introduction to data viz with Tableau - Materials from a workshop (UBC Library)
LinkedIn Learning for Tableau - Video courses available for FREE through Mason
The Information Lab Blog and Videos- Large variety of tutorials on various topics
Tableau Reference Guide - Categorized links on specific topics from various sources
Power-Start Workshop Materials (Paul Albert, George Mason & Tableau Alum!)
Join a User Group

Learn by Example

The best way to learn Tableau is to utilize or re-create what other people have done. You can often download the workbooks for visualizations you see. Don't forget that some worksheets might be hidden. These sites have downloadable workbooks (look in the bottom right for the download icon (square with down arrow) and choose "Tableau Workbook". Note that .twbx files include the workbook (.twb) plus the data.

Tableau Viz Gallery - Examples of specific types of visualizations
Tableau Help Content - Example workbooks to follow along
Starter Dashboards from Tableau
Tableau Public Gallery - Wide variety of content from users
Workout Wednesday - Weekly challenges to re-create a graph
Covid-19 Starter Workbooks - Examples for various fields
Teaching Workbooks by Donabel Santos

Data Sources

Get Web Connectors for Direct Import of Data:

Tableau Web Data Connector SDK from Tableau
Listing of (all) available Tableau Web Data Connectors so far! (2016) by Alexander Beck
Tableau Junkie - Source of several web data connectors for social media sites.