We are going to spend four class periods looking at current interactive
visualizations that you think are particularly interesting.
First you should find an interactive visualization that you think is well
done and interesting, and deep enough that you can effectively critique
it.
One
place to start looking might be at FlowingdData http://flowingdata.com/
or gizmodo has an infographics
tag .
You should pick something that has not been presented in the class
before, or if the concept has been presented before it should be
presented in a new way or from a different perspective. Choosing a
visualization from the last year increases your odds of it being new.
Visualizations and data sources related to other countries would be much
appreciated as those would give me a wider variety of visualizations to
show future classes.
Once you have chosen a visualization email Andy with its location so it
can be approved and we ensure that everyone is doing something
different.
You should create a web page with a link to the original visualization
and your critical discussion about the interactive visualization. Based
on what we have talked about in class and what you have experienced in
creating these kinds of applications, apply that knowledge to critique
this visualization. This should be a critical discussion of the value of
the visualization: what is its purpose? what is the data? how was it
collected? who are the users that this visualization was made for? what
questions do people want to ask? how can they find the answers with this
tool? what
works, and what needs improvement? This discussion should
include plenty of screen shots to back up your comments. In the past
about 10 screenfulls of good text and images have been about right for
an A in the critique,
Once you have your web page done, email its location to Andy and include
a screen snapshot so we can link all the pages into the class webpages. Each person will have 5
minutes to present the visualization and their critique in class.