Course Grades and Assignments

Your grade consists of 100 points. Points are assigned to class participation [10 points] and four assignments. Here are brief, preliminary descriptions. Detailed instructions will be given out as the course progresses.

Assignment 1: Icons and Interface Widgets [15 points]
[drafts for review in class on February 22; completed project due on March 1]

Create an icon or other interface widget for some process or user-driven action. Write a brief (500-750 words) account of how you developed and refined your concept. You may include sketches of alternative designs you considered and rejected.

Assignment 2: Representing Data [25 points]
[drafts for review in class on March 15; completed project due on March 29]

Using some set of data you find interesting (sports data, global warming data, endangered species and/or recovery data; etc.) and can acquire easily, create a visual representation that tells a story or reveals an important but hidden relationship among data dimensions.

Assignment 3: Processes and Flows [25 points]
[drafts for review in class on April 12; completed project due on April 19]

Using Visio or another appropriate diagramming tool, describe and implicitly analyze a complex, multi-part event/process involving multiple actors and multiple, simultaneous actions. You may also use words and images with the diagrams.

Assignment 4: Information Maps [25 points]
[drafts for review in class on May 3; completed project due on May 10]

Describe and implicitly, analyze a complex set of information relationships. Be sure you consider all the mapping issues we have discussed. Write a brief (500-1000 word) account of your strategy, including a discussion of what your map may distort or obscure.