Assignment for Unit Project 4
Due December 21, 5:00 pm: no extensions.
Concept and Goals
In the final unit project I'm asking you to look beyond conventional storyboarding into the dynamic, emergent world of software. You'll explore how sequential visualization can operate in a polysequential context.
Options
You may approach this assignment in one of four ways, all equally valid in terms of the course requirements.
USABILITY STORYBOARD: Choose a Web site with a sufficient but manageable number of options for internal navigation (i.e., links that do not lead offsite). Explore the site sufficiently to propose a series of tasks that may be assigned to users (i.e., can you find the page containing the picture of Rudy Giuliani in the pink chiffon dress?). Recruit at least two users, give them the task list, and observe what they do on the site--where they choose to look, what links they follow. Keep careful records. Develop a storyboard or set of storyboards in which you display your results in a clear and usefully comparative format. You may include verbal content. (If you'd like a site with some interesting navigational challenges, feel free to use my fiction "Reagan Library," at http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/rl).
PLAYER'S JOURNAL: Choose a popular game or simulation such as The Sims, Sim City, Civilization, or any other program in which player actions have significant consequences and you have enough control over run time to pause for notes and screenshots. State an objective for one or more sessions of game play (e.g., in Sim City, getting your town to 10,000 inhabitants). Observe your progress, keeping track of your major decisions and their consequences. Save screenshots indicating important changes of state. Use your notes and screenshots to create a storyboard that reports on your experience with the game.
SOFTWARE DEMO OR MOCKUP: Using Flash, PowerPoint, HTML, or some other visual presentation tool, create an animated simulation of a real or imagined computer program. For instance you might produce an animated walk-through of your Mirror Worlds storyboard from Project 3. (If you do this, however, be sure your work on this project represents a significant development or improvement over what you did before.)
CELLULAR AUTOMATON: Using Flash or HMTL/JavaScript, create a cellular automaton in which the state of each cell is determined by the states of its neighbors. Create visual content for the cells (a set of "skins") based on something more than abitrary difference (e.g., color), instead suggesting a deeper or richer form of relationship. (I will try to provide a model or template in Flash into which you can import your own content.)
Criteria for Evaluation
- Coherence and concept: Does the storyboard or simulation present a recognizably connected and coherent story? Is there a clear overall conception or purpose for the project? (25 pts)
- Multiplicity: Does the storyboard or simulation encompass or enable multiple development paths? Are the paths usefully contrasted, or do they reward alternative approaches? (25 pts)
- Technical challenges and solutions: What major challenges did the designer face in the project? How successful are the results? (25 pts)
- Cleverness and charm: Are particular aspects of the work elegant, ingenious, compelling, or delightful? (25 pts)
Medium and Technical Considerations
If you are producing a paper storyboard, please mount your work on black foamcore or Bristol board. You may use more than a single sheet or board. If you are working electronically, use whatever mode of presentation seems sensible and workable. You may store your work in your Crow space.
