Seminar

//Students may work alone or in groups of two.//
 * Tools & Techniques Seminar**
 * Due Date: Presented in class in October seminar schedule]**
 * Evaluation: 10% of final grade**

Over the last four weeks we've familiarized ourselves with the history of visualization and started to identify some best practices. Once you move beyond the first assignment, you'll be tasked with authoring a more ambitious visualization project. In order to do this, you'll need to think about the tools and workflows that will help you achieve your goal. We'll be doing a whirlwind tour of visualization tools in class on September 28th, but for the benefit of the group – I'm charging you to undertake research into various tools and present your findings back to the class. To help you make an informed decision about how to approach your final project, we'll be running a series of student-run seminars from October 13th–27th.

Each student should find a partner (working alone is permissible though) to investigate a specific visualization software, approach or workflows and present their research back to the group. The expectation is that these presentations will help alert the group to various tools and resources that are out there.


 * Exercise**: Each group will be expected to prepare a 20-30 minute presentation that provides an overview of a topic of their choosing. Possible topics could address the following:
 * [|Dotspotting]
 * [|Flare]
 * [|Google Visualization API] (has to expand considerably on material covered in class)
 * [|HTML5]/CSS3
 * [|Impure]
 * [|Protovis]
 * [|OpenLayers]
 * [|Sparklines]
 * [|TileMill]

...or a topic of your choosing (must be approved by the instructor). If you are not interested in any of the above you might look [|here] and dig back through the archives for more options.


 * No longer available:**
 * [|Google Earth] (Azarmeen and Ishita)
 * [|ImagePlot] (Synthia & Magdalena)
 * [|OpenPaths] (Noli & Maciej)
 * [|Processing] (Randy)
 * [|D3] (Dan)
 * [|Tableau] (Sophia & Kevin)

Choosing a software application may seem intimidating given that these platforms are probably new to you, pick something that you are curious to learn about and become knowledgable enough to bring the class up to speed on the capabilities of the platform. Where possible, showcase a project or two executed with the platform/technique and develop a rudimentary tutorial or demonstration for the class. Each group will be expected to prepare a presentation providing a clear and lucid overview of their topic as well as a one-page handout summarizing key points and reference information.


 * Choosing topics/scheduling**: Each group will be required to book a date between October 13th and 27th. No more than three seminars can take place on a single day and dates will be booked on a first come basis (see current schedule here). To book a date, a team must email their proposed topic, team members and presentation date to the instructor. All teams must book a date/topic by October 6th.

Each topic can be covered by only //one// group. It is expected that each group will spend approximately 15 hours researching or experimenting with their subject to prepare for their presentation.


 * Evaluation**: This assignment is worth 10% of the grade.


 * Evaluation criteria:**
 * Seminar: Presentation organization/clarity, visual presentation material and one-page handout, clearly demonstrated hands-on understanding of subject, **effort**
 * Participation: Contribution to group dialogue, helping foster discussion and adding nuance to the various presentations, **engagement**

Seminar marks will be emailed to each team within 72 hours of their presentation. Given that this is a 400 level course a seminar that conveys thoughtful engagement with the subject and articulately communicates this understanding back to the class will receive a 75% – If your groups surpasses or falls short of these expectations your mark will scale up and down accordingly.