Expressing Information Final: PlasticTrack
Click here to see my final project for Expressing Information--an interactive visualization of select plastic surgery data from 1998-2006.
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Expressing Information Archive
December 03, 2007
November 13, 2007
Final Project Prototype
See next page for link......
October 29, 2007
Final Project Proposal--Revised
I've decided to change my final project for this class, due primarily to the fact that I was having a hard time trying to come up with a way to convey some sort of value statement or argument through a visualization of the MAD art collection. I've decided instead to create a visualization of plastic surgery data over the past 10 years, conveying the trends (and stunning increase) in various types of body modification that have occurred over the years, and the disparity between the sexes in regards to this type of surgery. As a data source, I'll be using statistics gathered between 1997 and 2006 by The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, which claims to offer "the most comprehensive collection of data available on the number of cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures performed in the United States."
October 23, 2007
Final Project Proposal
For my final project, I plan to continue work on the individual curation tool for consideration as an exhibit at the Museum of Arts & Design. I've created a PDF mockup of a modified design that will hopefully be workable as a social tool, as the original pie-chart design would not work with dynamic content. Click here to download the PDF >>.
October 17, 2007
Design Workshop
This week, we were asked to create a personal collection from amongst our possessions, document it, then assign attributes to each object. I chose to use samples from my large collection of fabrics, since they are colorful, diverse, and personally significant to me. I documented each fabric with a photograph, then decided on eight categories (or "keys") by which to describe the collection: Type (e.g., cotton, polyester); Color; Texture (e.g., smooth, rough); Weight; Date of Acquisition; Place of Acquisition (by state); Source (e.g. gift, thrift store); and Use (e.g., pants, finger puppets). Click here to view the collection (PDF).
October 09, 2007
Museum of Arts & Design Visitor Curation Gallery
In preparation for the presentation of our collection visualization for the curators of the Museum of Arts and Design this week, I designed a Flash prototype that extends the concept of my original physical piece. Both pieces are designed to be intuitive visual tools that highlight each piece of art, while enabling the user to easily engage with, compare, and contrast each piece of art's data attributes. The physical and screen-based visualizations are both rooted in the concept of enabling museum visitors to explore the MAD collection by curating their own sub-collection of objects. Additionally, both pieces are intended to highlight the diversity within the museum's collection, the richness and complexity of the creative process that generated these works of art, and the concept that each individual can and should experience the collection in their own unique way.
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September 25, 2007
Collection Project - Revised Template
This week's assignment was to design a dynamic field on which to situate our Museum of Arts & Design collection, with a focus on providing a meaningful way to relate the objects to each other. I continued to refine the template I created last week, focusing on trying to solve the problems I noted with the initial prototype.
September 18, 2007
Collection Project - Template
Our assignment this week was to begin working with the collection of the Museum of Arts & Design, by selecting a group of objects to focus on, establishing interpretive categories for these objects, researching supplementary information sources that contextualize our selection, and designing a framework for displaying this information.
September 11, 2007
Good & Bad Visualizations
Our assignment this week was to collect a good and a bad example of information visualization. Since I've been doing a lot of shopping lately for our new apartment, I chose my examples from ecommerce sites. Not normally my first choice for creative ideas, but they do face a distinct and relevant challenge of presenting large databases of information to users--ideally in an intuitive and appealing way.
September 10, 2007
Fall 07 Course Descriptions
...and we're back! The classes I'm taking this semester are Expressing Information, an information visualization class, and The Softness of Things, a design course. Here are the basic course descriptions: