The Week in Vis 03 (Mon, Sep 17 – Fri, Sep 21): Abstraction

by Mike Gleicher on September 13, 2018

Class Meetings
  • Mon, Sep 17 – Lecture:Abstractions
  • Wed, Sep 19 – ICE: Data and Task
  • Fri, Sep 21 – OPT:DC1Data
Week Deadlines

Based on the critique in class, I tried to improve the format a bit so that the deadlines are more explicit. Of course, you could review the Part of Class page to remind yourself of the weekly deadlines.

Another change based on class critique: I want to be clearer that the readings are required for Monday, preferably before class. That means that if you only start the readings when you get the “week in vis” post on Friday, you don’t have a lot of time. But, you can always look ahead at the “all readings” page to see what the readings are ahead of time.

This week includes a design challenge – a 4 week “project”, with a deadline each week (on Friday). Look over the project description page. For this week, you need to pick a data set to work with. For Friday’s (optional) class period, we will look over data sets. If you want to use a data set that is not on the approved list, you need to bring it Friday so that we can approve it. If you don’t want to bring your own data set, it may be a useful discussion to listen in, since ideas for the assignment may come up.

The actual course content this week is about abstraction – a key element of visualization, because it lets us get beyond the specifics of a situation and draw from similar ones. We’ll talk about data abstraction (how to think about data in a manner that gets beyond its meaning) and task abstraction (how to think about what the viewer might be trying to do so we can help them). A warning: there are many ways to think about tasks abstractly. We’ll just see a few in the readings.

In lecture Monday, we’ll discuss data and task abstractions. For the in-class exercise on Wednesday, we’ll practice describing data and tasks abstractly. And hopefully, do more critique practice. Friday’s (optional) class is to look at data sets for DC1 (as described above).

You may want to look at this week’s learning goals Learning Goals 3: Week 3 – Abstraction.

Readings (due Mon, Sep 17 – preferably before class)

The topic for this week’s readings is Abstraction – especially data abstraction.

  1. Shneiderman, B. (1996). The eyes have it: a task by data type taxonomy for information visualizations. In Proceedings 1996 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages (pp. 336–343). (doi) (web pdf)This is a classic. Possibly one of the most influencial papers in the field. It’s old, and newer things are far more extensive. And the field has moved on from 1996 in many ways. But the initial thinking of abstracting data and task separately, and suggesting what those abstractions might be, really started here. The information seeking mantra is a classic notion. This paper is dated enough that it can be hard to read – but it is short.
  2. What: Data Abstraction (Chapter 2 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis and Design) (Munzner-02-DataAbstraction.pdf 1.1mb)A fairly dry description of the types of data. Don’t worry about trying to remember all the terms – you can always look them up when you encounter them again.

    Despite it’s length, the chapter skips a key concept: level of measurement for scales. You might have learned this in a stats class, but please understand the difference between “scale types” (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio). Usable Stats has a simple introduction.

  3. Why: Task Abstraction (Chapter 3 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis and Design) (Munzner-03-TaskAbstraction.pdf 0.4mb)Figuring out how to think about tasks is important. This chapter (and the research paper it is derived from) focuses too much on trying to put every task in a neat organization. What’s important is to think about tasks. This is one way to do it, and it will help you learn to think about tasks. Don’t get too bogged down in all of her categories.

    We’re reading the book chapter, not the paper. I recommend the Schulz et. al paper below for contrast.

  4. Forms and Functions (Chapter 2 of The Functional Art) (theFunctionalArtCh2.pdf 8.2mb)Cairo’s thinking about “the shape of data” is another way to think about data abstraction.

Optional

This used to be required – both because it makes the value of abstractions concrete, as well as gives some of the ideas behind Tableau.

  1. Mackinlay, J., Hanrahan, P., & Stolte, C. (2007). Show me: automatic presentation for visual analysis. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 13(6), 1137–44. (DOI) (Mackinlay2007-ShowMe.pdf 0.6mb)This is a research paper, but it’s an unusual one. It’s easy to dismiss this paper as marketing for Tableau – but it really does give a sense of how good abstractions can help in choosing appropriate visualizations. Plus, we’ll probably use Tableau this semester, so learning about it is a good idea.

    Because Tableau is such a direct implementation of the “building blocks” theory of visualization, it provides a great way to experiment with it.

Understanding task is really key to doing visualization well. These papers are strongly recommended because they provide another perspective on task as well as show how task analysis can be helpful.

  1. Schulz, H.-J., Nocke, T., Heitzler, M., & Schumann, H. (2013). A Design Space of Visualization Tasks. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 19(12), 2366–2375. (doi) (web pdf)This paper came out at the same time as the paper behind the book chapter. It was literally in the same session of the conference. I actually find this to be a more useful way to think about task – it’s not as encyclopedic, but that’s a feature.
  2. Sarikaya, A. and Gleicher, M. Scatterplots: Tasks, Data, and Designs. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 24(1) — Jan 2018 . (web page)An recent paper that my student and I wrote. It focuses on a specific (but ubiquitous) kind of visualization, but thinks through the tasks and shows how thinking about the data properties and tasks helps suggest designs. I like this paper, but I am biased.

Office Hours

by Mike Gleicher on September 12, 2018

We will have weekly office hours:

  • Mike Gleicher (6385 CS)  – Wednesdays, 2-3 (or by appointment)
  • Mary Feng (6372 CS) – Tuesdays 11-1 (or by appointment) – except 18th (which will be noon-1)

 

 

If you missed class the first week…

by Mike Gleicher on September 9, 2018

I understand that for the first week, more people miss class for various reasons.

You cannot “make up” missed classes (especially in-class experiences). However, you should go through the lecture slides (which will have much less value since they are meant to accompany the lecture). I will usually post the materials from the In-Class-Exercise (the first in-class exercise is here).

If you missed Friday (our first in-class exercise), I recommend that you try it at home. It won’t be nearly as useful (since you’ll miss discussing it, and you’ll miss the “lecture” aspects where we tie the assignment to the concepts). But read the slides, try the assignment, and maybe follow the link to the online place where a designer shows some of his answers.

Even if you miss class, you should try to keep up with all of the other parts of class. See the Week in Vis postings (for week 1 and week 2) for a reminder of what you should be doing.

If you are still on the waiting list: you cannot get access to Canvas. I have sent email to people who I thought were on the waiting list with instructions. But, in general: do the readings, and write your postings so you can post them when you get Canvas access.

 

The Week in Vis 02 (Mon, Sep 10 – Fri, Sep 14): Why Visualize

by Mike Gleicher on September 7, 2018

This week, we’ll get into the regular rhythm of the class, and hopefully get all the enrollment issues handled briefly.

Last week, we tried to get a sense of what visualization is, and what the class is. If you haven’t done Week 1’s assignments (readings, online discussion, seek and find, and quiz) please do that first! We will be lenient with the first week’s deadlines.

This week, we’ll continue to ask those questions, and add another question “Why should we do it?”

Monday, we’ll have a lecture that will build on the readings. (I am aware that the weekly schedule is problematic – if you wait until Friday to get the readings, you only have a few days to do them, and they technically aren’t due before class – I plan to do something about this in the coming weeks).

Wednesday, we’ll talk about critique – and do it in class (to critique visualizations).

Friday’s “class” is optional: I call it “meet and greet.” Basically, it’s a chance for me to get to know students, and students to get to know me and each others. I won’t have anything planned other than to sit at a table and talk to everyone.

You may want to look at this week’s learning goals Learning Goals 2: Week 2 – Why Visualization.

Readings (due Mon, Sep 10)

First: Unrelated to the main topic, we will be talking about how to critique and practicing critique in class. Usually, we just critique – but one of my goals in this class is to teach people to do it more effectively. This chapter (which is part of a whole book on how to critique productively) will hopefully give you some things to think about, although ultimately, I think it just takes practice.

  • “Understanding Critique,” Chapter 1 of Discussing Design by Adam Conor and Aaron Irizarry, O’Reilly Books, 2015. Chapter available online as a sampler from the publisher. (pp. 7-25, 18 pages)

The main readings are intended to give you a sense of why we do visualization, and why we bother to try to do it correctly. If you haven’t done the first week’s readings, please do them first.

There is a lot of reading this week.

view full post »

Slides from Lecture Available

by Mike Gleicher on September 6, 2018

I will make the slides I use in lecture available after class.

There are in a folder in the “files” section of canvas: https://canvas.wisc.edu/courses/121074/files/folder/Lecture%20Slides

The first lecture is: https://canvas.wisc.edu/files/5571721/download?download_frd=1

Because those of you on the waiting list can’t see that, I’ve (temporarily) put them at: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gleicher/TempOpen/Vis18-Readings/01-1-WhatIsVis.pdf

While I make slides available, they are not designed to stand alone – they are designed to accompany the lecture. Without the lecture, they will not have as much value. If you miss a lecture, hopefully this will be better than nothing.

Enrollment and Waiting List

by Mike Gleicher on September 5, 2018

If you are on the waiting list: please be patient. I think we are close to being able to let everyone on the waiting list in. No promises – we still need to wait for people to drop. Rather than trying to prioritize people, I am going to see if we get enough drops.

However, if you are on the waiting list:

  • Please come to class on Friday! We will use that as a way to gauge interest.
  • In terms of the assignments: we can’t let you into Canvas until you enroll. Don’t worry about it. We understand that the first assignments will be late for lots of people. You may want to do them (the discussion and seek and find) offline so you just need to upload them when the time comes. You can do these (and the first Quiz) next week after you get enrolled.
  • In terms of the reading: again, I can’t easily give you access to Canvas. So temporarily, I’ve put the week’s readings (at least the Canvas ones) into: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gleicher/TempOpen/Vis18-Readings/. The first 2 weeks readings are there (just the ones from Canvas – the ones on the open web are not included)

The Week in Vis 01 (Mon, Sep 3 – Fri, Sep 7): What is Visualization

by Mike Gleicher on August 29, 2018

This is the first of the weekly “Week in Vis” postings. There are enough things going on in class that having easy pointers to what will happen is useful. You can also get the highlights at the top right of the course web page. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to look at the “parts of class” page (which is actually part of the required reading) to get a sense of what all these pieces are. (but you should have already read that as part of the start here list).

The Week in Vis postings also gives me a chance to tell you what to expect for the week, and to introduce the topic.

The topic for this week is to talk about what Visualization is – both in terms of generally, but also what this class is. The first lecture (which is Wednesday) will talk about both Visualization generally, but also about the class to introduce the mechanics. In the second lecture (Friday) we’ll do an “in-class” exercise where you will do a little design as a way to get you thinking about the class topics.

You may want to look at this week’s learning goals Learning Goals 1: Week 1 – Introduction.

Note that all of the weekly aspects of class are happening this week, despite the fact that its a short week. There is a reading (which is usually due on Monday before the first lecture of the week), there will be a quiz (usually due on Tuesday, but this week you have more time), an online discussion (usually due on Wednesday, but again, we’re lenient), and a “Seek and Find” (due on Friday, but we’re more flexible this first week).

A big part of the first week is to make sure everyone gets used to the mechanics of the class. So please make sure to do all the class activities so we can make sure the mechanics work.

Readings (due Friday, Sep 7)

This week there is a fairly large amount of readings – because we don’t have much else going on. The reading isn’t as bad as it looks because it’s all fairly light.

The main goal here is to give you a sense of what visualization is. I want you to get some different perspectives, so you can form your own.

Most of these are from textbooks (see the Books page). A goal is to introduce you to the people you’ll be learning from this semester (including me!).

  1. The Course Web Page – the Start Here (TL;DR) page has a list of required things to read. Make sure you understand the class policies and procedures. The How to Vis will have some redundancy with lecture, but this is stuff I really want you to know.
  2. What we talk about when we talk about visualization (Chapter 1 of The Truthful Art) (theTruthfulArtCh1.pdf 5.7mb) This will be your first exposure to Alberto Cairo’s books (see my discussion from the Spring). A great place to start the class.
    For a great (but optional) introduction to Cairo’s style and philosophy, read the “Introduction” (which is before chapter 1) (theTruthfulArtCh0.pdf 7.7mb).
  3. What’s Vis (Chapter 1 from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-01-Intro.pdf 0.3mb)
  4. Two Blog Postings by Robert Kosara: What is Visualization? A Definition and The Many Names of Visualization – read these to get a viewpoint different than mine.

Optional

  1. Preface (from Munzner’s Visualization Analysis & Design) (Munzner-00-FrontMatter.pdf 0.3mb) – yes, I recommend that you read the Preface of the textbook. It will give you a sense of what’s coming.
  2. Graphical Excellence (Chapter 1 of Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information) (1-VDQI-1-GraphicalExcellence.pdf 33.8mb) – This will actually be on the reading list for week 2, but in many ways, it fits better at the beginning.

Start Here (TL;DR)

by Mike Gleicher on August 20, 2018

This is a (TL;DR) for the initial course web.

There is a pile of stuff on the course web for you to look at. Enough that it might be hard to find everything. Here’s a summary of the key points, with links…

  • This course is about principles of vis, not necessarily about implementation details.
  • Class attendance is required. You should bring things to draw with.
  • You are not required to buy any books, but there are some you might want to get. There is a lot of reading for this class.
  • Each week there will be reading, an online discussion, a seek and find, and lectures. In many weeks, there will be in-class exercises and parts of the “design challenges” (mini projects).
  • Everything counts towards your grade, even if it isn’t graded.
  • There is a late policy.
  • I am upfront about my philosophy about visualization, and the class is designed around that.
  • I have tried to articulate the learning goals for the class.

A List of Pages you need to read:

  1. Course Announcement (general info) – to get an idea of what this class is
  2. What is this class and why? – since I am making it explicit, you should know
  3. Syllabus (class info – not the detailed schedule)
  4. Course Policies (page, stuff could be on the syllabus)
  5. Books for the class
  6. The parts of class – describes the different class activities, and their rules
  7. How to Visualize – this will be a reading for week 1, but it might give you a better sense of my philosophy.
  8. (optional) Learning Goals – I have tried to make explicit what I want students to learn from this class
  9. (optional) Readings – This is a list of all the readings for the semester. They will be given to you a week at a time. But if you want to see the whole list (which is kindof intimidating), you can see it on this page.

Update on Enrollment and Waiting Lists

by Mike Gleicher on August 15, 2018

Update, August 29th: we still have more people on the waiting list than we have seats in class. Rather than invite more people, we will wait until after the first day of class and see what capacity we have. If you are on the waiting list, please come to class – we’ll overflow the room (so please give priority for seats to those who are enrolled).

Update, August 21: we have invited many people from the waiting list. If you have been invited, please either accept the invitation, or take yourself off of the waiting list. If you have not been invited: there is a good chance some people will drop / not accept their invitation. I can’t promise we can take everybody.

As of August 15th, we have a room (312 Wendt) with 80 seats. However, between the waiting list and current roster, we have about 100 students. I expect that many people will drop, so that everyone on the waiting list will be accommodated. However, I can’t let more people into the class then there are seats – so some students may need to wait until people drop before they can enroll.

So… it would be really helpful if we can figure out people who aren’t going to take the class sooner (so they can drop/remove themselves from the waiting list) sooner rather than later. This class isn’t for everyone – it’s not like most other CS classes.

While I welcome all students who want to take the class, I also appreciate this class isn’t for everyone. If you’re interested in the class: please have a look at the course web (and/or last year’s course web) and get a sense of what the course is about. If this class doesn’t seem like what you want (and you’re likely to drop it), it is better that you drop (or remove yourself from the waiting list) sooner rather than later. You’ll make someone on the waiting list happy.

The key pieces of the course web are up (see start here). This should give you a lot of information to decide if you want to take this class.

The course web is: http://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/765-18/. It is still under construction, but a few things are in place that are useful for understanding the class and whether it will be what you want:

If you look at last years course web (http://graphics.cs.wisc.edu/WP/vis17/), this year will be similar. A number of minor improvements will be made.

If you are interested in the class and are not enrolled, please make sure that you are on the waiting list. Students who are on the waiting list will be given priority.

We expect to start processing the waiting list on August 20th. There is a chance it might happen sooner.

view full post »

Changes for Fall 2018

by Mike Gleicher on August 14, 2018

CS765 was last offered in Fall of 2017. I think the class went generally pretty well, and overall got good feedback from students. There are still some things I want to improve for Fall of 2018.

I am posting this list partially as notes to myself (to remind myself what I am doing).

  • Improve the order of topics: I will try to get to designing visualizations earlier in the semester – which means some “basics” need to get to be pushed until later.
  • Lecture less: there are better ways to use our time. Lecturing is actually less work for me, but it doesn’t work for everyone. And the room we have is terrible for lecturing.
  • Make use of the unusual room: this means less lectures and more “collaboration”. For better or worse, we have a “collaborative classroom.”
  • Be more consistent with “in-class excersizes”: this goes along with less lectures and using the room. This will be a bit of a challenge to come up with good in-class exercises. It will also be a challenge for assessment.
  • Plan the in-class exercises better: last year, they were a bit ad hoc.
  • More critique practice: I am increasingly believing this is the key to learning.
  • Make the readings more focused: I like to read alot, and I think its good for students to see multiple perspectives. But at the same time, there are limits.
  • Make the online discussions more focused: last year, each discussion had 2 topics intertwined. It mixed reflection and thinking about the topics with demonstrating what you read. I want to try to split that this year. Each week will have a single, more focused discussion topic – and we’ll use more time for class discussion.
  • Use other mechanisms to assess whether students are getting the lessons from the readings and lectures: I really had no idea whether people were getting the lessons or not. While I hate the idea of quizzes, I think they may be a necessary evil – providing me a way to make sure people are “getting it.” I view it less as a way of assessing students, and more of a way to help students see if they are getting it.
  • Make use of the TA: we didn’t have one last year. Having one should make grading more consistent, and allow us to provide better feedback to students.
  • Put more effort into getting to know students: last year I felt pretty disconnected from the students (even though the class wasn’t that big).

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →