IR13s Experiments

Description of experiments to be carried out in class.

1. Class competencies

Duration

• 1:00 total
• 0:05 explain what and why
• 0:30 performance
• 0:25 discussion

What

Divide in two groups and represent visually the competencies each group.

Use pencils, Illustrator, etc.

Why

• introduce each other and find out what we can do as a team
• simulate a real life situation of information visualization

Discussion

• explain the rationale behind the representation
• explain the task distribution within the group
• explain the practical difficulties of collaborating on the project
• representation, like much of doing science, is a social construct, not an etheral algorithm
• did you realize how individualistic visualization is in respect to say, music or dance?

Prepare

• paper and pencils

2. Chess complexity

Duration

• 1:15 total
• 0:05 description of what and why
• 0:50 performance
• 0:20 discussion

What

Represent one of the following:

• past movements
• future possible movements
• strategies

Why

• represent complexity (large tree of possibilities)
• represent discreet movements
• it has practical applications in chess and beyond

Discussion

• discuss the difficulties encountered
• are the proposed solutions sufficient enough?

Prepare

• a selected game description
• several physical boards
• links to web chess games

3. Improve & reformat

Duration

• 1:20 total
• 0:10 what and why
• 0:25 individual versions
• 0:20 group version
• 0:15 presentations
• 0:10 discussion

What

• you will be given a number of visualizations (everybody gets the same)
  • which some you have to improve
  • some to reformat
• as a group, produce a single output version

Examples:

• ...

Why

• develop a critical eye
• experience the power and traps of team work
• discover how a representation is designed with a specific surface dimension in mind - representations are embedded in space

Discussion

• how did you experience the initial goals?
• try to conscientize the group's decision process

Prepare

• get examples
• get the visualizations for the task

4. Awareness

Duration

• 1:00 total
• 0:15 what and why
• 0:35 performance
• 0:10 discussion

What

• find as many examples as possible of implicit features (individual task)
  • areas to consider: multimodal representation, IT in general

• classify the examples (collaborative task)

Examples:

• optical illusions -> metaphor of how we are constrained sometimes to a specific view
• (behavioral) enter key on keyboard -> right-handers
• (cultural) time arrow -> direction of writing
• (corporal) door handles, chair and steps heights -> not for children
• (age) much software is too complex for elderly
• (social) colormaps -> not for colorblinds
• (knowledge) volcanos on Venus, bacteria in a dish -> look deceivingly simple to interpret
• (cultural, environmental) straight / curved, near / far cultures -> cultural and environmental factors
• (cultural) color cognition is language specific -> software: imposition of some Wester culture on others
• (gender) first programmers in the 1940 were woman, now woman are about 17% in computer science (about 6% in Switzerland in 2009) -> sexism, social conditions (war)
• (ethics, gender) violent and war computer games are majority -> computer gaming industry is geared for males

Why

• representations, and technologies, are not what they look like:
  • they include many unconsciously embedded presuppositions
  • they are complex social and cognitive constructs
  • so be critique, be aware

Discussion

• given the number of examples on the blackboard, do you realize how constrained the world around you is? you could represent this topology of constraints! (legal, ethical and social constraints for example)
• let's classify the constraints

Prepare

• illustrate the examples

6. Evaluation

Duration

• 1:00 total

What

• ...

Why

   * ...

Discussion

• ...

Prepare

   * ...

7. Personal geography

Duration

• 1:05 total
• 0:40 performance
• 0:10 what and why
• 0:15 discussion

What

• request from your colleagues to draw as faithfully as possible:
  • the border of Switzerland
  • the location of the 20 largest cities
• represent the variability of the obtained information

Why

• importance of specific step in the representation process: making the information "representable"
• think about what is really represented: the data or something else?

Discussion

• discuss the solutions
• did you see? what is represented:
  • the geographical culture of an individual
  • the geographical culture of an individual's social cohort
  • an individual's spatial awareness
  • an individual's drawing ability
  • the generalization degree of the drawing (normalization should consider this)

Prepare

• cameras and scanners

8. Adjustment to audience

Duration

• 1:00 total
• 0:10 what and why
• 0:30 preparation
• 0:16 presentations
• 0:04 discussion

What

• you will be given some data - prepare three different visualizations thereof that target the following different audiences
• explain your choices (max. % minutes)

Example:

• ...

Why

• gain awareness that different audiences need different communication models
  • for example in a courtroom, a forensic expert has to present things differently to the jurors as to fellow scientists

Discussion

• limits and traps of adaptation
• ...

Prepare

• find example(s)
• more discussion topics?

-- VladAtanasiu - 27 Oct 2012