Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research
Digital art of five human hearts formed by interconnected red dots with the words "Love Data Week February 9-13, 2026" superimposed over the top.

Love Data Week

How can I celebrate Love Data Week at UW—Madison? 

Love Data Week, held annually during Valentine’s week, is an international celebration of data that invites institutions and individuals to explore how data shapes our world. The Office of Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research (DAPIR) and the University Libraries at UW-Madison proudly sponsor UW–Madison’s Love Data Week, which includes a partnership with Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA).

  • Register for Love Data Week events.
  • Learn 3 quick tips to organize and protect your data that take about 3 minutes each.
  • Discover more ways to grow your passion for data.
  • Check out Bucky’s Data Viz Challenge winners. Coming soon!

Love Data Week events

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

3 quick tips that take 3 minutes each on how to organize and protect your data

Digital art of five human hearts formed by interconnected red dots with a number 1 superimposed over the top.

Bring a sense of order to your Google Drive, Box, or SharePoint storage.

Take 3 minutes to organize your top-level and save time later on when you can easily find materials and the correct version!

Digital art of five human hearts formed by interconnected red dots with a number 2 superimposed over the top.

Create a README file (example) for your most important data set, in plain text (.txt) or markdown (.md) format.

More information is available from the libraries.

Digital art of five human hearts formed by interconnected red dots with a number 3 superimposed over the top.

Do you know how to apply privacy principles at work?

While Wisconsin doesn’t have a comprehensive state privacy law, data privacy is still vital to our institution, employees, and students.  Here are 7 generally accepted privacy principles. 

Winners of Bucky's Data Viz Challenge advancing to BTAA Data Viz Championship

A team of judges is currently reviewing entries from this year’s Bucky’s Data Viz Challenge. The winners will represent UW—Madison at the BTAA’s Data Viz Championship, held during Love Data Week. More information coming soon!

More ways to grow your passion for data

Secure data management starts with you! Discover 5 ways to make sure you are using protected institutional data responsibly.

Data@UW – Data Governance and Responsible Use, a 30-minute, self-paced employee module, helps you understand your responsibilities to protect the institutional data that employees collect and use daily.

Want to learn more about protecting student data? The Office of the Registrar,  responsible for student data, is a central campus resource for FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and offers two ways to access FERPA training. 

Students, take a minute to learn more about how your personal data is used at UW–Madison. The Office of the Registrar is a central campus resource for student record information and offers a number of ways that you can understand, control, and update your personal data.

Find out about a Data Classification Initiative rolling out in 2026 in an effort to strengthen compliance and lower security risk across the university. 

DAPIR and the University Libraries at UW-Madison sponsor UW—Madison’s Love Data Week.

Thank you to the BTAA and the many volunteers, speakers, and supporters who helped make Love Data Week 2026 a success.