Specification
We are surrounded by examples of visualization in every form of media in our everyday lives. An effective visualization will quickly and accurately convey important information in a compact manner that is easy to understand, interpret, and analyze. In contrast, a poor quality visualization can be confusing, hard to interpret, or even misleading.
Why are you interested in taking this course, "Interactive Visualization"? What visualizations are particularly inspiring to you? Find two example visualization images -- one example that you think is a great visualization and one example that you think needs significant revision to be effective. Please limit yourself to single, static (non-interactive) image visualizations for this assignment.
For each example:
- Document the author of the visualization (formal & detailed bibliographic citation). Note: Just because you found it on social media doesn't mean you can be lazy or sloppy with giving credit to the author!
- A short paragraph describing the context, original media format, target audience, and purpose of the visualization.
- A longer paragraph with your analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the visualization. What generalizations can you draw from this example about what makes a compelling, high-quality visualization? How specifically could this visualization be improved?
Your assignment should be formatted as either:
- plaintext (.txt) with separate image files (.png or .jpg) and/or links (URLs) to the original image source, or
- .pdf with embedded images.
Make sure your writeup is thoughtful, clear, and well-written (complete sentences, proofread/spellchecked). Remember that part of your grade for this assignment and for this course is your communication/writing.
How to Submit
Upload your file(s) to the Submitty Gradeable for Homework #1.
Make a post on the Submitty Discussion Forum sharing one of your two visualizations (the already great one or the one that needs improvement). Include a very brief description of what you like about the visualization and/or what needs improvement.
Send email to the instructor ASAP if you cannot access Submitty.