SARC 5400 data visualization : Assignment II

data visualization
sarc5400
Assignment II

Due - Noon, Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Me, graphically /
the quantified self

A diagram showing LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman's connections.

Now that we've looked at graphics, let's take a shot at building one — on a topic you each know very well.

For this assignment, you are to construct a visual story of yourself, through information.

You have a lot of leeway with this assignment, but I want you to come up with an interesting and informative way to tell someone something about yourself, or to somehow track a particular characteristic or event. What is important, what is not? How does it relate to other things? If you can describe yourself in a paragraph, how would you describe yourself in a visual? Can you pick out a little piece of your experience of life and use graphical structure to tell this story, and even learn from it?

Think of this as building something like a resumé (meaning: "summary") or curriculum vitae ("story of life"), but constructed through graphical structures rather than words, and topically about something broader than your skills and job history. This visual should investigate and show something about yourself that is interesting, unique, and perhaps quirky.

You can, and likely will, choose to concentrate on a particular area or subset of yourself rather than trying to incorporate everything, but you should try to make a coherent point, statement, or story with this visual. Incorporate as much or as little as you want.

This visual can be based on real data, if you have it, or it can be based on pseudo-data -- approximations and an organizational sense, even if there is not true "data" to back it up. The point is rather to come up with a way to visually arrange, organize, and communicate.

You can choose to organize your graphic through some mechanism of time, space, flow, connection, overlap, impact, interest, happiness, ....

Consider: What is your mechanism for "recording" or "mapping" yourself? What is your mechanism for organizing, presenting, and explaining? What data are you using? What time-scale or spatial-scale does it occur over? What story is it telling?

There are only two rules:

No photographs or similar images. This is not a graphical facebook page or comic book.

It must be a single graphic composition - i.e. one page (though it can be a large page).

I want the graphic organization and information content to tell the story.

When turning in, include a brief written description of your work, in a separate document. What were you after? How did you go about getting there? What struggles did you have?

As before, some will present and review with in-class discussion, and then everyone will peer review online.

data visualization sarc5400 Assignment II Due - Noon, Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Me, graphically / the quantified self
A diagram showing LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman's connections. Now that we've looked at graphics, let's take a shot at building one — on a topic you each know very well. For this assignment, you are to construct a visual story of yourself, through information. You have a lot of leeway with this assignment, but I want you to come up with an interesting and informative way to tell someone something about yourself, or to somehow track a particular characteristic or event. What is important, what is not? How does it relate to other things? If you can describe yourself in a paragraph, how would you describe yourself in a visual? Can you pick out a little piece of your experience of life and use graphical structure to tell this story, and even learn from it? Think of this as building something like a resumé (meaning: "summary") or curriculum vitae ("story of life"), but constructed through graphical structures rather than words, and topically about something broader than your skills and job history. This visual should investigate and show something about yourself that is interesting, unique, and perhaps quirky. You can, and likely will, choose to concentrate on a particular area or subset of yourself rather than trying to incorporate everything, but you should try to make a coherent point, statement, or story with this visual. Incorporate as much or as little as you want. This visual can be based on real data, if you have it, or it can be based on pseudo-data -- approximations and an organizational sense, even if there is not true "data" to back it up. The point is rather to come up with a way to visually arrange, organize, and communicate. You can choose to organize your graphic through some mechanism of time, space, flow, connection, overlap, impact, interest, happiness, .... Consider: What is your mechanism for "recording" or "mapping" yourself? What is your mechanism for organizing, presenting, and explaining? What data are you using? What time-scale or spatial-scale does it occur over? What story is it telling? There are only two rules: No photographs or similar images. This is not a graphical facebook page or comic book. It must be a single graphic composition - i.e. one page (though it can be a large page). I want the graphic organization and information content to tell the story. When turning in, include a brief written description of your work, in a separate document. What were you after? How did you go about getting there? What struggles did you have? As before, some will present and review with in-class discussion, and then everyone will peer review online.