Spring 2007 - Project
The focus of this course will be a substantial project involving an investigation of a problem in information visualization. There are several goals for this project. In particular, you will:
- Apply what you have learned during this semester
- Survey literature related to a problem
- Develop a proposed solution to the problem
- Write a conference-quality paper (8-10 pages) describing your solution.
- Present your paper to the class
This effort will provide you with exposure to the way that computer science research is done, and may prove valuable for thesis or graduate projects. Indeed, your work may provide the basis for thesis or graduate projects. Successful projects will also be considered for possible submission to research conferences.
Project
The project will probably take one of five forms:
- Case study: You will apply existing visualization tools to a novel and interesting data set - preferably one that is relevant to your own work - and you will analyze the data in search of interesting findings.
- Implementation: Design and implement a novel visualization tool or component. This may also involve modification or extension of an existing tool. The use of toolkits like piccolo or prefuse is encouraged. Languages, operating system platform, and other technical decisions are at your discretion, but you should be able to provide a working demonstration of your code.
- Evaluation: Do a head-to-head comparison of multiple tools, or interface designs. This may involve a "heuristic" review, where you will just compare and contrast various aspects of design, or a user study - an experiment asking users to try various alternative interface designs. User studies will require following proper procedures for experimental informed consent - these issues will be discussed in class.
- Theory: Develop a new model of information visualization, a way of talking about information visualization, categorizing systems, or otherwise adding intellectual structure to the field.
- Literature Review: Summarize current literature in some area of information visualization, with an eye towards building a model for describing and discussing the trends in work that has been done and remains to be done. Similar to a theory project.
The best projects are those that relate directly to something that you are already interested in. If you are currently involved in some research, those efforts may involve some data or goals that would be appropriate for a class project.
Some research ideas that I am interested in exploring might form the basis for class projects:
- Visualization of interaction histories
- Extending the iSonic data sonification tool to new types of data.
- Web-client-based visualization tools, using AJAX and related technologies.
- Integration of visualization tools with web-based databases of genomic data (model organism databases).
- Visualization of web data from sources like flickr or Prosper
Teams: Rosters due Feb. 13
This will be a group project, involving teams of 2-4 students. This will require planning, coordination, and communication. Teamwork can be hard: you should clearly identify who will do what by when. At the end of the semester, I will ask you to provide a report at the end of the semester detailing each team member's contributions. All team members must contribute to the final writeup.
Unless there are clear difficulties, all members of the team will receive the same grade.
It is your responsibility to make sure that your team works productively. Please do not come to me one week before the final presentations with a tale of sorrow about how your teammates have not done any work - by then it will be too late. If you have difficulties with your team, please let me know as soon as possible.
Rosters listing the member of each time will be due on February 13.
Proposal Due March 6
You will prepare a proposal describing the problem that you are going to address, its importance and your plan for addressing it. This proposal should also include an initial timeline and task allocation, indicating who will do what, and when they will do it. The proposal can also include relevant references to the literature.
The proposal is your contract with me. I will review it to make sure that what you have proposed is adequate without being overly ambitious. I may suggest changes, or revisions as necessary. I also reserve the right to request that you resubmit a new proposal, if your original proposal is inappropriate.
The proposal is due on March 6, but I encourage you to talk to me before then to discuss plans and ideas. This will help you avoid going off-track.
The proposal should be a maximum of two pages in length.
Progress Report Due April 17
A 1-2 page progress report will be due on April 17. This should tell me what you have done, how things are going, if you have had any difficulties, where you might need help, and anything else I might need to help you make your project a success.
You are welcome to talk to me about your progress before or after the progress report is due. I strongly encourage you to do so, particularly if you are having difficulties.Don't wait for the last minute!
Presentations May 10, 15
Each team will present their projects in class. These will be conference-style presentations with slides, demos, and other materials designed to convey your points to others.
I have provided some links to resources on giving effective talks. Please consult these references for advise.
We will discuss strategies for effective presentations as these dates draw near.
All team members should participate in the preparation of the presentation materials, and in giving the presentation itself.
Final Report Due May 22
The project final report will be an 8-10 page paper in the ACM SIGCHI conference publications format. This paper should include an abstract, introduction, motivation for your work, discussion of related work, description of your project and your results, discussions, and conclusions, including ideas for future work.
We will discuss strategies for writing effective research papers