cs5984: Information Visualization

Homework #1: Visualization Tools

Due: Thursday Sept 6, In Class

The goal of this homework is to experience and practice the use of visualization tools, accustom yourself to seeing data in new ways, discover something new in a data set, and think critically about visualizations.

Your assignment is to find some interesting data, explore it using some visualization tools, and write a short report. This is an individual assignment.

Data: Find some data of interest to you. The data should be large and complex enough that visualization is needed. It should have at least 1000 items and at least 6 attributes. However, if your favorite data set doesn't meet this requirement, talk with me to see if it is acceptable anyway. If you draw a total blank on locating some interesting data, please see me and I will point you to some. Here are some data ideas:

Eye tracking data from a user interface experiment (see Dr. North)
Website access log data (see Dr. North)
multi-dimensional function data (see Dr. North)
bio-informatics data (see Dr. North)
census data
stock market data
sports data

Visualization: Now, load your data into at least 2 of the visualization tools below and use them to examine your data. Each tool has documentation about its data format. Microsoft Excel is helpful for manipulating your data into the right format. The visualization tools are installed on the machines in McBryde 104c. You should have Hokie card access. The tools you may choose from are:

Spotfire (by Spotfire): McB 104c
Table Lens (Eureka by Inxight): McB 104c
Parallel Coordinates: McB 104c
Star Coordinates: McB 104c
If you would like to use some other tool, please check with me.

Report: Write a 2 page report about your findings and about the visualization tools you used:

Describe your data findings (1 page): What did you learn about your data? Anything new, unexpected, surprising? What relationships exist in the data? Did you find answers to any questions you had about the data? Imagine yourself as a data analyst, and present your case to me. Use pictures to back up your claims (e.g. screenshots of visualizations -- Alt-PrintScrn captures a screenshot that can be pasted into word processors etc).
Compare and critique the visualizations (1 page): Which visualizations helped you answer which questions better? Why? Strengths, weaknesses, tradeoffs, etc.

What to hand in:

Print your report and turn it in class.

Help:

Demo of tools: Purvi will give a demo of the above tools on Friday at 4-5pm in McB 104c.
Purvi will also be in McB 104c to provide support during 4-7pm on Friday Aug 31 and Mon-Wed Sept 3-5.

Grading: The purpose of visualization is insight. Hence, for the data analysis section you will be graded on the insightfulness of your findings and conclusions. Your findings should be non-trivial. For the visualization critique section, you will be graded on the depth and validity of your argument. I realize this is somewhat vague. However, this is a research-oriented course, and so the main goal is for you to think very deeply about the problems and to break them down. To get a strong 'A' throughout the semester, you will be expected go above and beyond the call, not just do the minimum required to satisfy the specifications. Note this does not mean more pages (2 page limit) -- conciseness is good.