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Midterm Prototypes

Instead of a midterm exam, all students must complete a midterm group project. This guide explains the requirements for the midterm project prototypes, including the alpha and beta releases. See the Midterm Project page for more details on other requirements.

Associated Assignments Midterm Alpha Release (Canvas Assignment)
Midterm Beta Release (Canvas Assignment)
Midterm Prototype Demonstration (No Submission)
Midterm Prototype Feedback (No Submission)

Alpha Release

The goal of this assignment is to make sure your group is able to communicate and begin narrowing down a theme, is able to access the project Github repository and update the project website, and is able to make releases.

The following must be complete on your midterm project website for the alpha release:

  • The basic navigation and structure for the project website should be complete.

    There should be one page or section per requirement for the midterm project website, including the home content, data and processing content, visualization content (one per person), prototype content, and team/about content. It should be clear how to navigate to all of the required content.

    The content of these pages or sections does not need to be complete, only the structure and navigation. Some of pages or sections will contain placeholders.

  • The “Home” content should describe the project theme (approximately 1 paragraph with 3 to 5 sentences).

  • The “Data and Processing” content must be complete for for the original dataset, but does not need to be complete for the data processing.

  • The “Team/About” content must be complete.

The content you include does not need to be the final version! You may continue to make modifications to the content later as your team works on the midterm project.

Once complete, your team must create a release of your Github repository by the deadline and submit a link to that release on Canvas.

Beta Release

The goal of this assignment is to make sure your group is able to get user feedback on your early visualization prototypes with enough time to react to comments before the final release is due.

The following must be complete on your midterm project website for the beta release (in addition to what was already completed for the alpha release):

  • The “Data and Processing” content must have a draft data processing section.

  • There must be one static visualization prototype (using any tool or language) per group member completed, ideally with all of the components that will eventually be completed in the final D3.js version.

The content you include does not need to be the final version! You may continue to make modifications to the content later as your team works on the midterm project.

Once complete, your team must create a release of your Github repository by the deadline and submit a link to that release on Canvas.

Prototype Demonstration

Students must both demonstrate the beta releases of their midterm project to others, as well as provide feedback on the beta releases of other groups.

On-time attendance is mandatory for these exercises. The instructor will take attendance at the start of class.

Demonstration Instructions

Groups will lead 25 minute discussions of their project three times for different feedback groups throughout the class, with 10 minute breaks between each discussion. Start with a 5-10 minute overview of the project, including the theme, data processing, and how each visualization will fit that theme. Finish with 15-20 minutes of detailed demonstration of the visualization prototypes. Time permitting, groups may also discuss the project website overall.

During the discussion, one or two group members should be demonstrating and presenting the project, and one group member should be taking notes. Students are encouraged to occasionally switch roles after each feedback session (it will be good practice for the midterm presentation later). All group members must participate in the demonstration in some way.

Demonstrating groups should load their midterm project website on one of the lab computers at the start of class. The following table gives the room layout for the demonstrating groups for the prototype exercise. Rows 1 and 3 should setup on the left side of the row. Row 2 should setup on the right side of the row. The demonstrating groups do NOT move.

Main Doors
  Left Side Right Side
Row Tuesday Thursday Tuesday Thursday
1 Dukes of Data Sigegoubi Group0 The Rad Grads
2 Team ColorIn Boom Graph R&D Magic Mirror Tony and Friends
3 Git Gang The Data Vizards Empty Empty
  TV Whiteboard TV

Feedback Instructions

At the start of class, the feedback groups should find their assigned group. Feedback groups will move to different presenting groups throughout the class. The Tuesday feedback schedule is as follows:

TUESDAY Presenting Group
Feedback Group 12:55p – 1:20p 1:30p – 1:55p 2:05p – 2:30p
Sigegoubi Dukes of Data Team ColorIn Git Gang
Boom Graph R&D Team ColorIn Git Gang Group0
The Data Vizards Git Gang Group0 Magic Mirror
The Rad Grads Group0 Magic Mirror Dukes of Data
Tony and Friends Magic Mirror Dukes of Data Team ColorIn

The Thursday feedback schedule is as follows:

THURSDAY Presenting Group
Feedback Group 12:55p – 1:20p 1:30p – 1:55p 2:05p – 2:30p
Dukes of Data The Data Vizards The Rad Grads Tony and Friends
Team ColorIn The Rad Grads Tony and Friends Sigegoubi
Git Gang Tony and Friends Sigegoubi Boom Graph R&D
Group0 Sigegoubi Boom Graph R&D The Data Vizards
Magic Mirror Boom Graph R&D The Data Vizards The Rad Grads

During the demonstration, try not to interrupt during the first 10 minutes. After then, the feedback group may start providing comments and questions.

All feedback must be professional, substantive, constructive, and students must follow the Student Conduct Code of the university. Students are encouraged include the following in their feedback:

  • Feedback of the visualizations using objective evaluation concepts discussed in class (e.g. lie factor, data density, data/ink ratio).

  • Feedback of the visualizations using subjective evaluation (sensitively and constructively delivered) regarding the design.

  • Feedback of the visualizations regarding different forms of interactivity.

  • Feedback of the visualizations regarding the relevance to theme, stated goals, and website cohesiveness.

  • Discussion of technical details where appropriate (e.g. suggestions on different approaches in D3, prototype tools, data preprocessing steps).

There will be three 25 minute feedback sessions with 10 minutes in between each session.