SCHEDULE OVERVIEW
The schedule for this class will weave together four key themes. First, we'll discuss a number of core visual analytics concepts and models. Second, espeically early on in the semester, we'll spend time reviewing the D3.js library, a widely used framework for interactive visualization on the web. Third, we'll review recent examples of research in visual analytics from the scientific literature. And finally, we'll have some special guest speakers address the class both in person and via web conference.
Below you'll find a TENTATIVE schedule for the semester. Please note that all topics/dates/etc. are subject to change at any time. I fully expect to adjust our plans multiple times over the course of the semester.
DETAILED SCHEDULE
| August | |||
| 23 | Class 1 | Course Overview | A1: Environment Setup assigned A2: Semester Project Proposal assigned |
| 25 | Class 2 | Introduction to Visual Analytics •Read "Visual Analytics: Definition, Process, and Challenges" by Keim et al. •Read "Illuminating the Path (ItP)" Executive Summary (Pages 1-18) | |
| 30 | Class 3 | Information Visualization Overview Semester Project Orientation •Read "Visualization Analysis and Design (VAD)" Chapter 1 ('What's Vis, and Why Do It?') •Read "A Tour Through the Visualization Zoo" by Heer et al. | A1 due |
| September | |||
| 1 | Class 4 |  Select Topics: JavaScript and SVGIntroduction to D3 and Simple Statistics | |
| 6 | Class 5 | Information Visualization: Data and Tasks •Read "VAD" Chapter 2 ('What: Data Abstraction') •Read "Information Visualization (IV)" by Colin Ware, portions of Chapter 1 on Types of Data/Metadata | |
| 8 | Class 6 | Proposal Elevator Pitches Team Formation and First Meetings | A2 due 24 hours before class. A3: Project Status and Proposal Revision assigned A4: Semester Project Deliverables and Presentation assigned |
| 13 | Class 7 | Hands On D3: Part 1 | A5: D3 Exercise assigned |
| 15 | Class 8 | Information Visualization: Visual Encoding •Read "Interactive Data Visualization (IDV)" by Ward et al. Chapter 4 Visualization Foundations •Read "IV" Chapter 6 Patterns | |
| 20 | Class 9 | Hands On D3: Part 2 | A5 due A6: More D3 assigned |
| 22 | Class 10 | Team Design Workshop •Read Sketching with Data Opens the Mind's Eye •Read ""Graphical Perception..." paper" by McGill and Cleveland | |
| 27 | Class 11 | Data Representation and Transformation: Basic Wrangling •Read "Research Directions in Data Wrangling" by Kandel et al. | A7: Research Article Choices assigned |
| 29 | Class 12 | Hands On D3: Part 3 •Read about D3 Data Manipulation. | A6 due |
| October | |||
| 4 | Class 13 | Data Representation and Transformation: Statistics •Read Basic Statistics. | A7 due |
| 6 | Class 14 | Hands On Simply Statistics •Re-Read Simple Statistics web page, focusing on API. | A8: Simple Statistics Exercise assigned |
| 11 | Class 15 | Project Midterms: Present your proposal and progress-to-date to the class. Schedule Research Article Presentations | A3 due A9: Research Article Presentation assigned |
| 13 | Class 16 | Data Representation and Transformation: Dimension Reduction, Classification, Clustering •Read Dimension Reduction on Wikipedia. •Read Statistical Classification on Wikipedia. •Read Cluster Analysis on Wikipedia. | |
| 18 | Class 17 | User in the Loop: Connecting Analytics and Visualization •Read "We Need Both Exploratory and Confirmatory" by John Tukey | A8 due |
| 20 | Fall Break | No Class | |
| 25 | Class 18 | Research Article Presentations (Day 1) | A9 due (for some) |
| 27 | Class 19 | Class is cancelled. Prof. Gotz will be attending IEEE VIS. Please use this day for team project meetings. | |
| November | |||
| 1 | Class 20 | Analytical Reasoning: Models •Read "ItP" Chapter 2, pages 33-48 | |
| 3 | Class 21 | Research Article Presentations (Day 2) | A9 due (for some) |
| 8 | Class 22 | Industry Guest Lecture: Krist Wongsuphasawat, Twitter | |
| 10 | Class 23 | Analytical Reasoning: Challenges | |
| 15 | Class 24 | Class is cancelled. Prof. Gotz will be attending AMIA. Please use this day for team project meetings. | |
| 17 | Class 25 | Industry Guest Lecture: Robert Gove, Invincea Labs | |
| 22 | Class 26 | Research Article Presentations (Day 3) | A9 due (for some) |
| 24 | Thanksgiving | No Class | |
| 29 | Class 27 | Industry Guest Lecture: Xan Gregg, SAS | |
| December | |||
| 1 | Class 28 | Collaboration and Dissemination •Read "Storytelling: The Next Step for Visualization" by Kosara and Mackinlay. | |
| 6 | Class 29 | Final Project Presentations | A4 part 1 (presentation and online demonstration) due |
| 9 | Final Exam Period | Project Deliverables Due by Noon on Dec. 9 |
A4 part 2 (software prototype) due A4 part 3 (final report) due A4 part 4 (team evaluations) due |