The goal of the semester project is to contribute to research in the field of information visualization. This will involve teamwork, learning about related research, planning and implementing a solution, and writing and presenting results. The project can provide a solid start for thesis research.
The semester project has several milestones throughout the semester:
Form a group of 3-4 students and choose a project topic. Choose from the list of project ideas, or invent your own. Each group should discuss their topic idea with me. There are two types of projects to choose from:
Hand in 1 page that includes:
Write a short review paper about the research that others have done that is related to your project. Search the scientific literature. Useful starting points are the VT Library computer science section (which has links to the ACM and IEEE digital libraries), any relevant references in papers, and other people who are experts in the domain. Be thorough! You will be surprised how much similar work has been done previously. Include pictures in the paper. As a rough guideline, you should have 5-10 references to closely related work. This review paper will provide the basis for the Related Work section of your final paper.
For implementation projects, design the visualization and user interface. Write a short report that describes the background of the problem, and your proposed design. Include mockups or initial prototypes.
For experimentation projects, design the experiment including independent and dependent variables, experimental procedure, and initial materials. Write a short report that describes the background of the problem, and your proposed experiment design. Include materials.
The design report may provide the Introduction and Basic Approach sections for your final paper.
For implementation projects, produce an initial implementation of the proposed design. Update the design report to include description and pictures of the initial implementation. Give a short presentation and demonstration of the implementation in class.
For experimentation projects, conduct the pilot experiment as a test run, analyze initial results, and fix experimental bugs. Update the design report to include description and results of the pilot study. Give a short presentation in class on initial results.
For implementation projects, conduct a small usability test on the initial implementation. Identify usability problems, and make modifications to refine the visualization design. Add to the ongoing paper a section about results of the usability test and refinements to the design.
For experimentation projects, conduct the main experiment and collect data. Add to the ongoing paper a section about the main experiment process.
For implementation projects, finish and polish the final implementation. Produce a first draft of the final paper, including and updating all the sections. Present and demonstrate the final implementation in class.
For experimentation projects, complete the main experiment, analyze results (including visualization and statistics), and make conclusions. Produce a first draft of the final paper, updating all the sections and including final results. Present final results and conclusions in class.
Refine the final paper draft to produce a conference-quality paper about your project. Use the papers discussed in class as a guide. Use plenty of pictures. In general, the paper should include:
Good example papers are:
Produce a short web page about your project that includes a summary, participant names, and links to the paper, demo download, or other materials. Hand-in all materials produced throughout the semester in a zip file.