CPSC 371 Exploring Data with Visualization Spring 2010

CPSC 371 Syllabus

Readings are to be done before the class period where they are listed. Dates for assignments shown in gray are tenative and are subject to change.

 Assignments

Week 1: 1/20-1/22

Topics: introduction; the power of representation

   

Wed Links:    

Fri Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. Visual Explanations, chapter 2. [on reserve and Blackboard]

Optional Reading:

  • Zhang, Norman. "The Representation of Numbers", Cognition, 57, pp. 271-295, 1995. [on Blackboard] This reading gets a bit complicated in places. If you get lost, just skip to the next section and start again.

Slides: [on Blackboard]

   

Week 2: 1/25-1/29

Topics: marks and data

   

Mon Reading: (journal question)
  • Cleveland, McGill. "Graphical perception and Graphical Methods for Analyzing Scientific Data", Science, New Series, vol. 229, no. 4716 (Aug. 30, 1985), pp. 828-833. [link] The last section ("Graphical Methods") is optional.

Slides: [on Blackboard]

   

Wed Reading: (no specific journal question)
  • Tufte. Envisioning Information, pages 81-96. [on reserve]
  • Rogowitz, Treinish. "Why Should Engineers and Scientists Be Worried About Color?" [link]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

   

Fri Reading: read at least one of the following articles (journal question)
  • Stephen Few. "Graph Designs for Reviewing Transactions and the Changing Balance". [link]
  • Stephen Few. "Graph Designs for Rapidly Assessing Budget Performance". [link]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

homework #1
due Mon 2/1
 

Week 3: 2/1-2/5

Topics: protovis; matching marks to data

 

Mon Reading: (no specific journal question) Browse through the Protovis documentation, paying particular attention to the following pages:

You can also check out the Examples Gallery to see the kinds of things that are possible.

Reference:

Examples:

homework #2
due Fri 2/5
 

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Graphical Excellence", pages 13-52. [on reserve]

Examples:

  • iris10.php (map, ordinal scales, bar chart)
  • abalone.php (data manipulation: nest, flatten)
  • iris11.php (stacked bars, data manipulation: map, nest, flatten)
 

Fri Slides: [on Blackboard] homework #2 (problem 2)
due Mon 2/8
 

Week 4: 2/8-2/12

Topics: matching marks to data

 

Mon Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Data-Ink and Graphical Redesign", pages 91-105. [on reserve]
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Chartjunk: Vibrations, Grids, and Ducks", pages 106-121. [on reserve]

Examples:

Slides: [on Blackboard]

homework #3
due Fri 2/12
 

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. Envisioning Information, "Color and Information", pages 81-95. [on reserve]

Reference:

Examples:

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Fri Slides: [on Blackboard] homework #4
due Wed 2/17
 

Week 5: 2/15-2/19

Topics: designing visualizations; truthfulness; technique toolbox

 

Mon no reading  

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Graphical Integrity", pages 53-77. [on reserve]

Examples:

Slides: [on Blackboard]

  midterm #1
due Wed 2/24 in class

(information)


Fri Reading: (journal question)
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Multifunctioning Graphical Elements", pages 139-159. [on reserve]
  • Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Small Multiples", pages 170-174. [on reserve]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Week 6: 2/22-2/26

Topics: technique toolbox; interaction

 

Mon Slides: [on Blackboard]  

Wed Slides: [on Blackboard]   project #1
checkpoint #1
due Fri 3/5

Fri Reading: (journal question)
  • Yi, Kang, Stasko, Jacko. "Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 13(6): 1224-1231, 2007. [on Blackboard] Focus on sections 4 and 5.

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Week 7: 3/1-3/5

Topics: interaction

 

Mon Reading: (journal question)
  • Stephen Few. "BizViz: The Power of Visual Business Intelligence". [link]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

Examples:

 

Wed Examples:
  • interaction3.php (mouseover - change size, color, and have a label appear when the mouse hovers over a mark)
  • interaction3b.php (tooltips - may not work in all browsers)
  • interaction4.php (clicks - clicking on a mark triggers filtering)
  • interaction4b.php (mouseover triggers filtering; not ideal because even with jittering, some marks are drawn on top of each other)
  • interaction4c.php (using nested panels to arrange multiple plots, clicking on mark in one plot triggers filtering in the other)
 

Fri Reading: (no journal entry)

Examples:

homework #5
due Fri 3/12
project #1
checkpoint #2
due Fri 3/12

Week 8: 3/8-3/12

Topics: space and time


Mon Slides: [on Blackboard]

Wed Slides: [on Blackboard]

Fri Reading: (journal question)
  • Liu, Stasko, Sullivan. "SellTrend: Inter-Attribute Visual Analysis of Temporal Transaction Data", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 15(6): 1025-1032, 2009. [on Blackboard]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Spring Break


Week 9: 3/22-3/26

Topics: graph drawing

  project #1
checkpoint #3
due Fri 3/26

Mon Slides: [on Blackboard]  

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • Herman, Melancon, Marshall. "Graph Visualization and Navigation in Information Visualization: a Survey", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 6: 24-43, 2000. [on Blackboard]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Fri Examples:

Slides: [on Blackboard]

homework #6
due Wed 3/31
project #1
final handin
due Fri 4/2

Week 10: 3/29-4/2

Topics: giving presentations; visualizing text


Mon Slides: [on Blackboard]

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • van Ham, Wattenberg, Viégas. "Mapping Text with Phrase Nets", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 15(6): 1169-1176, 2009. [on Blackboard]
Slides: [on Blackboard]
 

Fri Reading: (journal question)
  • Collins, Viégas, Wattenberg. "Parallel Tag Clouds to Explore and Analyze Faceted Text Corpora", IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology, pp. 91-98, 2009. [on Blackboard]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

   

Week 11: 4/5-4/9

Topics: visualizing text and documents; project presentations and discussion

   

Mon Examples:

Slides: [on Blackboard]

  project #2
topic ranking
due Tue 4/6

Wed In Class: project presentations   project #2
specifications gathering
should be complete by Thu 4/15

Fri Reading: read all of the following (and watch the videos if you can) (journal question)

Optional Reading: all of the submission writeups

  midterm #2
due Fri 4/16 in class

(information)


Week 12: 4/12-4/16

Topics: practicalities

 

Mon Reading: be sure to have looked at the data for the project  

Wed    

Fri     project #2
final handin
due Sat 5/8

Week 13: 4/19-4/23

Topics: design challenges

 

Mon    

Wed    

Fri    

Week 14: 4/26-4/30

Topics: design challenges; societal impacts

 

Mon    

Wed Reading: (journal question)
  • Viégas, Wattenberg, McKeon, van Ham, Kriss. "Harry Potter and the Meat-Filled Freezer: A Case Study of Spontaneous Usage of Visualization Tools", Proc. 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Science, 2008. [link (PDF)]
  • Viégas, Wattenberg, Feinberg. "Participatory Visualization with Wordle", IEEE InfoVis, 2009. [link (PDF)]
 

Fri (no reading)  

Week 15: 5/3-5/4

Topics: societal impacts and ethical issues

 

Mon Reading: (journal question)
  • especially page 77 of: Tufte. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "Graphical Integrity", pages 53-77. [on reserve] - this is review of reading previously assigned
  • section 4.2.4 of: Viégas, Wattenberg, Feinberg. "Participatory Visualization with Wordle", IEEE InfoVis, 2009. [link (PDF)] - this is review of reading previously assigned
  • especially pages 38-53 of: Tufte. Visual Explanations, chapter 2. [on reserve and Blackboard] - this is review of reading previously assigned
  • Tufte. PowerPoint Does Rocket Science - and Better Techniques for Technical Reports. [link]

Slides: [on Blackboard]

 

Exams: 5/8-5/11

 

Sat   end-of-semester super deadline
no work accepted after 5/8 10pm

Sun      

Mon      

Tue      

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