Course Schedule

This is really the schedule / list of topics / list of assignments. The brief syllabus has all the other syllabus parts (or at least pointers to where on the web page to find things)

Anything more than 2 weeks out is tentative.

In the initial phases of the class, we’ll be pretty intensely reading / using class time for lectures. The discussion assignments will be oriented towards the readings. The goal is to build up enough of a basis for us to do other things.

The general rhythm of the class will be:

  • Two lectures a week, generally one of the lectures will have a participatory exercise (if they work).
  • There will be two regular readings per week. In the beginning, these both will be substantial. Once we get through the initial phases, there will be one substantial reading per week, and one smaller one. Readings are due the day before the class that we will discuss them (i.e. on Monday / Wednesday).
  • There will be two discussion oriented online activities each week. In the beginning, these are tied to the readings. However, they will evolve to be more diverse. The hope is to have one reading, and one design activity per week. The design activity might be a critique, a request to create something, a redesign, a discussion, or a combination.
  • There will be one “838 extra” assignment per week. This might be a reading discussion, or a design exercise, or …
  • There will be a “seek and find” assignment each week. These may evolve to include critique component as well.
  • The hope is to keep the workload in the class relatively flat over the course of the semester: a steady stream of small things, rather than a big project.
  • For discussions, we will give a due date when your initial posting(s) is(are) due (always a monday or wednesday). However, we encourage you to continue the discussion for a few days after the initial postings. We will not grade discussions for at least a week, to give people time to reply and have a conversation. A warning: don’t neglect new discussions to keep old ones going, or vice versa.

So, you can pretty much count on 6 things due per week (one of which is optional if you’re in 638). 2 Readings, 1 838 Assignment, 2 Discussions (either reading discussions or design discussions), and 1 seek and find.

Week 1 (1/19): What is Visualization? What is this class?

Week 2 (1/26): What kinds of Visualizations and Why?

Week 3 (2/2): Abstraction (Data and Task)

Week 4 (2/9): How do we know it’s any good? (Evaluation)

Week 5 (2/16): Perception: Basics and Application to Encodings

Week 6 (2/23): Color

Week 7 (3/2): Encodings and Layout

Week 8 (3/9): Graphs and Networks

Week 9 (3/16): Multi-Variate

Week 10 (3/23): Interaction and Multiple Views

March 30 – Spring Break! (and the VIS deadline)

Week 11 (4/6): Too Much Stuff

Week 12 (4/13): Experiments

  • Tuesday 4/14: Too Much Stuff — Item Reduction
  • Thursday 4/16: Too Much Stuff — Dimensonality Reduction
  • Reading 20: Too Much Stuff
  • Seek and Find 11: Too Much Stuff
  • 838 Only Assignment: (none)

Week 13 (4/20): Comprehensibility and Uncertainty

Week 14 (4/27): 3D and D3.js

Week 15 (5/4): Everything Else (Animation, Scientific Vis, Motion)

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