Syllabus

Last Modified on Fri., Sept. 22, 2000

Description

Computer-based graphical representations, or visualizations, of scientific processes and phenomena have become commonplace in scientific communities. For example, geologists like to visualize plate tectonics; meteorologists like to visualize weather systems; and computer scientists like to visualize algorithms. After briefly surveying the use of visualization in scientific communities, this course pursues an in-depth investigation of its theoretical underpinnings from three diverse perspectives:

• The cognitive perspective: Scientific visualizations promote the efficient cognitive processing of information that viewers need to solve their problems.
• The social perspective: Scientific visualizations serve as valuable communicative resources in negotiating a shared understanding of scientific phenomena.
• The cultural perspective: Scientific visualizations facilitate, and reflect, one's participation in a community of practice.

The overall goal is to gain (a) an appreciation of the issues surrounding the use of visualizations in scientific communities, (b) an understanding of how and why such visualizations may or may not be effective in assisting their users, and (c) an ability to apply various research techniques for studying, designing, and evaluating visualizations in practice.

Course Format

As a seminar, the main activities of this course are the lively discussion, analysis, and synthesis, of a strategically-selected sample of literature on scientific visualization, along with foundational literature on cognitive, social, and cultural theories of representations. Thus, its success rests heavily on the active participation of its members. So as to encourage such participation, I will select a pair of students to serve as facilitators for each session. (Occasionally, I may select myself as the facilitator of a session.) The responsibilities of the session facilitator include

• critically reading the material to be discussed;
• preparing a brief (20 minutes or less) summary presentation of the material to be discussed;
• preparing a list of at least five discussion questions; and
• leading the discussion.

Non-facilitators in a given section will be expected to critically read the material prior to the session, and to arrive at the session with their own list of questions and comments.

What is Critical Reading?

One of the important skills you'll be developing in this course is critical reading: the ability not only to identify the key points of the material, but also to analyze and critique its underlying perspective, and ultimately to integrate that perspective into your own. To help you to practice critical reading, consider the following list of questions as you're reading the material:

• Who are the authors? What is their academic history? From what intellectual perspective are they coming? What are their biases?
• What are the key points of the article?
• Are there any gaps in logic or presentation? How could the presentation or argument of the article be improved?
• How does the article compare, and fit in, to others you've read on this topic?
• What do you like about the article? What do you not like? Why?

Schedule

Grading

Your grade for the course will be based on your performance on the following items (weights are in parentheses):

• Session Facilitation (18%). You will be graded on your performance as session facilitator, according to the following criteria:
  • Discussion questions (20%). Are the facilitator's discussion questions well-conceived and compelling? Do they delve below the surface of the reading ? Do they attempt to connect the reading to other readings? Does the facilitator e-mail the discussion questions to the class one week prior to his/her session?
  • Preparation (20%). To what extent is the facilitator actually prepared to present the readings and lead the discussion? Is it clear that the facilitator has carefully read the readings?
  • Presentation quality (30%). Does the faciliator's presentation use well-designed PowerPoint slides, and are those slides provided on disk to the instructor for publication on the course web site? Is the facilitator's presentation easy to follow and well-organized? Does it cover the important points? Does the presenter make good eye contact and talk clearly? Does the facilitator invite questions when appropriate?

  • Discussion facilitation (30%). How well does the facilitator engage the class in discussion? Does the facilitator take a leading role in keeping the discussion going? Does the facilitator ask questions above and beyond the ones he/she posted, when appropriate?

• Projects (54%). Three projects (worth 18% each) will enable you to explore further each of course's three major units on the cognitive, social, and cultural perspectives. Each project will include a combination of hands-on work and writing, The projects will be handed out at the beginning of each respective unit, and will be due on the day the next unit starts (or on the final day of class, in the case of the third project).

• In-Class Participation (5%). As a seminar, this course depends on your lively participation in class. I will give you a participation grade based on my personal assessment of your efforts to participate.

• Take-home final exam (23%). An essay-based take-home final exam will be handed out on the last day of class, and will be due in the instructor's office by noon on Friday, May 11 (the end of the scheduled final exam period).

Policies

Please familiarize yourself with the following course policies. By following them, you will get the most out of this course, and you will not encounter any unwelcome surprises down the road:

• Course web site. The course web site (http://lilt.ics.hawaii.edu/~hundhaus/ics691/) is the primary means of disseminating information on the course. The schedule and all assignments are available off of the web site. In addition, this site contains a discussion page to which I will post questions and answers, and your up-to-date grades (see next item). Obviously, it is in your best interest to visit this web site regularly.

• Checking your grades. As I grade assignments, I will post to this web site your updated grades, including your current overall percentage and letter grade. Please check the on-line gradebook regularly to ensure that your grades have been entered properly, and please let us know as soon as possible if you detect an error.

• Challenging a grade. If you are unsatisfied with the way in which your work has been graded, you have one week (from the time I hand back the work) to disucss the matter with me. Please discuss your grade disputes only during office hours, not during class.

• Late policy. Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day. Late assignments will be penalized 10% per day late, or fraction thereof. (Days are counted from the time at which class begins.) Except under extenuating circumstances that you discuss with me in advance, you may not make up programming assignments that you fail to turn in.

• Academic Dishonesty. I hesitate to say anything about this in a 600-level graduate course (you know this already), but I do want to state my policy clearly. I encourage you to discuss the course material with others; indeed, such discussion is a main objective of this course. However, the written work that you ultimately turn in must be your own. If I suspect that you have worked with someone else on an assignment, I will call a meeting with you and the others involved, and make a judgment based on the results of that meeting. I will deal with violations of this policy according to the following schedule:
  • first violation—A "0" on the assigment;

  • second violation—a grade of "F" for the course, and referral to the dean of students

C.D.H.
Honolulu, Hawai'i