Schedule

For good measure, press cmd+shift+r (Mac) or ctrl+chift+r (PC) to refresh the page.

Since no class dynamic is the same, I sometimes must make adjustments to the schedule. If this is the case, I will announce such changes in advance to help you adjust accordingly.

Project: Data Collection

Week 1 – Introductions & Audiences

Tuesday – 01/16: Review syllabus, projects, and policies

Readings

  • None, since it is the first day

Due

  • None, since it is the first day

Thursday – 01/18: Introductions with your data-story curiousities

Readings

Due

  • Take notes about the main takeaways about the Dear Data project. Consider how you see me translating the Dear Data project into this course. Jot down some questions and comments to share.
  • Come prepared to re-introduce yourself today by sharing what digital media / technology practice that you may end up studying and writing about this semester. Please note that this topic is not set in stone, but simply a curiousity to share.

Week 2 – Algorithmic Audiences

Tuesday – 01/23:

Readings

Due

  • Take notes about how Gallagher defines algorithmic audiences: its different types and properties, as he notes them in the article. Please include page numbers in your notes for quick reference in class. After reading it, and the other 3 popular pieces, consider the following questions for discussion: How (does) this concept of audience change your understanding of your reading and writing habits with digital technologies? How do you perceive ways in which data and digital media practices linked? What are some examples of algorithmic audiences from your everyday life?

Thursday – 01/25: Research Topic, Questions, & Data Collection

Readings

Due

  • Follow the directions on Research Invention handout.
  • Follow the directions in the Data-Collection Handout [Drive Link]. You will create a draft Spreadsheet and Data-Collection Plan.

Week 3 – Student Data Conferences

Tuesday – 01/30: No class – Attend individual conferences

Readings

  • None.

Due

  • Share your course Google Drive folder with me: lindgren@vt.edu.
  • Bring your draft research materials to your conference.
  • Come to the conference with at least 3 particular questions about your topic, questions, and collection strategies.

Thursday – 02/01: No class – Attend individual conferences

Readings

  • None.

Due

  • Share your course Google Drive folder with me: lindgren@vt.edu.
  • Bring your draft research materials to your conference.
  • Come to the conference with at least 3 particular questions about your topic, questions, and collection strategies.

Week 4 – Data Collection Week / Data Visualization

Tuesday – 02/06: Spreadsheet strategies + Types of Charts

Readings

Due

  • Data collection starts on Monday (02/05). Jot down difficulties and issues that you wish to bring up during class.

Other Information

  • One-quarter of class will be devoted to tips and strategies to produce a readable data set; the other portion will open up our discussion to different types of data-visualization charts.

Thursday – 02/08: Spreadsheet strategies + Types of Charts, continued

Readings

  • Review Kirk, A. (2016). Data visualisation: A handbook for data driven design. London: SAGE Publications, pp. 150-206. (Download pp. 150-160, 161-206)

Due

  • Keep collecting your data jotting down difficulties and issues that you wish to bring up during class.

Other Information

  • One-quarter of class will be devoted to tips and strategies to produce a readable data set; the other portion will introduce different types of charts, marks, and attributes.

Project: Data Visualization

Week 5 – Designing Data Visualizations

Tuesday – 02/13:

Readings

  • First plots of our data visualizations

Due

  • Complete data set submitted via Canvas.
  • By hand, on some grid paper, draw a draft data visualization by choosing particular data properties of interest to visualize. For this first crack at it, use the temporal chart layout.
  • After plotting it out, review what you see and mark any interesting patterns. Consider if what next steps you might take to compare what you find with other datapoints, as well as other kinds of charts to highlight that pattern.
  • Install Inkscape on your machine: Download and install link. Regarding what type of CPU your computer is (32-bt vs 64-bit), refer to this online guide.

Other Information

  • In class, we will review and compare our initial findings. We will also discuss other strategies to consider what chart to use and how to use our draft temporal chart to compare against our data sets.

Thursday – 02/15: Start practicing basic Inkscape skills

Readings

  • Watch and practice along with Rankin, M. (2015). Inkscape Essential Training: Introduction, 1. Getting Started videos, & 2. Navigating an Inkscape Document. [Outbound link to Lynda.com playlist]

Due

  • Complete the above training video.
  • Revise your dataviz ideas, based on insights garnered from your temporal chart. Draft a very rough sketch of the new chart and take notes about this process. Bring those materials to class, because we will hold peer group discussion about what avenues to take next.

Other Information

  • In class, we will also review some of the trickier skills covered in the tutorials, so bring your laptops.

Week 6 – Data Visualization in Inkscape

Tuesday – 02/20: Basic drawing in Inkscape and drafting your data visualizations

Readings

  • Inkscape Essential Training: 3. Drawing Basic Shapes. [Outbound link to Lynda.com playlist]
  • Inkscape Essential Training: 4. Transforming Objects: Selecting objects - Skewing objects, Aligning, distributing, and arranging objects, Object clones, Clipping and masks (Skip the others, such as the XML Editor video and any video not relevant to your project); & 5. Working with Fills and Strokes. [Outbound link to Lynda.com playlist]

Due

  • Complete the above training videos.
  • Draft your own data visualization in Inkscape. Be sure to have defined your document properties, as well as use features such as the guides and/or grid maker, object copying/pasting, and object cloning for alike marks with shared attributes.

Thursday – 02/22: Legends

Readings

  • None.

Due

  • Create a draft legend for your chart. Consider this guiding question: "What information does someone need to interpret my visualization?" All of your design elements that represent your data should be included and organized in your legend. Consider its placement, as well as the order in which you place your labels.

Other Information

  • We will discuss some legends by Lupi and Posavec in class to help us refine our strategies. Then, we will conduct a short round of peer reviews.

Week 7 – Completing Your Data Visualization

Tuesday – 02/27: Data Visualization Due, but no class.

Readings

  • None.

Due

  • Dataviz due. Be sure to follow the submission directions provided in Canvas.

Thursday – 03/01: Introduce Video project + The explained genre + Preliminary research.

Readings

  • Read the Video Production project page.
  • Watch this video as an example of the explained genre: Marshall, M. and Morgan, A. (26 Feb. 2015). Net Neutrality Explained. Wall Street Journal [YouTube Channel]. Retrieved 18 Oct. 2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90McT24Z6w.

Due

  • Explained topic invention: Create a new folder in your Google Drive: explained-video. Create a Google Document within it called topic-invention. In it, create a list of 3 potential topics to develop about the data collected about you. The topic need not be specific to your insights garnered from your data visualization, but try to connect it to the digital media and/or technology used. For instance, if you studied your Apple Music listening habits, how might you consider a project that digs deeper into explaining what data Apple collects and ways they use it beyond serving up your music? Another topic could connect your phone use to 1 of the issues listed on the Video Production project page.
  • After considering what topic to explain, choose 1 to pursue. Then, within the same Google Document, record some preliminary secondary research. Do so by first creating a list of at least 5 references in APA. Sources should include primary documents about the data-issue, such as an End-User LIcense Agreement from the company. If you are explaining a broader issue/practice such as data-brokering or psychographics, use the library databases to find expert discussion about the practice from a particular perspective: business, technology, education, etc. You should also include credible news reports about particular issues with the use of data / issue.
  • Finally, in a new Google Document called nne-label-moves, categorize the different parts of the example explained video by labeling 1) what broader moves it makes to explain Net Neutrality at 2) the particular start-time as a timestamp. For example, 0:00 -- Introduced basic definition of NN: "(insert definition)"; 0:15 -- (Insert move), etc.

Other Information

Week 8 – Spring Break

Tuesday – 03/06: Spring Break - No Class

Thursday – 03/08: Spring Break - No Class

Project: Video Production

Week 9 – Researching your video

Tuesday – 03/13: Video Composition & Storyboarding

Readings

Due

  • Print out some storyboards [Link to download PDF]. Rewatch the Net Neutrality video from Wednesday and log all of the editing cuts with the storyboards. In class, we will categorize and label these cuts as acts, sequences, and scenes.

Thursday – 03/15: Draft Story Structure & Storyboards Due

Readings

  • Read through the Creative Commons page and review the different licenses and what the do.
  • Read and learn more about Fair Use: What is Fair Use?
  • Continue your research and organizing of resources to use in your Explained video.

Due

  • Recall O’Connor’s video about Acts, sequences, and scenes. Note how he wrote out a Story Structure for his video as Acts with major sequences.

    Before you create your own storypanels, create this broader structure with a preliminary title and logline. Now, develop sequences that will make up each act. Note how you can use your genre analysis as a guide for writing up this outline.
  • Now, use your Story Structure to write out storypanels that plan out your cuts and transitions with regards to your explained-video structure. Complete a draft set of storypanels for your video before class. Be sure to plot out each set of sequences with their scenes and cuts.

    Consider how you can use a mix of screen-recordings, clips from other videos, and other media (texts and images) within your sequences.

Other Information

  • In class, be prepared to showcase your story structures to peers in a concise and quick manner.
  • We will also use time to discuss how to organize our resources in preparation for creating our videos.

Week 10 – Secondary Research & Outlining

Tuesday – 03/20: Practicing Basic Cuts

Readings

Due

  • As you continue your research, organize your project folder in a way that reflects the handout provided.
  • Go back to your storypanel and start to include some basic cuts and transitions between shots, as well as write a script to record for each shot-sequence. Use this info to guide your search for tutorials/resources about how to do that work in your particular video editor. Note how I have provided some videos on the resources page.
  • Install your editor of choice. Note the resources page for help.
  • Come to class having already started to work on the first act of your explained video. Bring particular problems/questions + some helpful tips/resources.

Thursday – 03/22: More Editing Teamwork

Readings

  • Continue research/editing as needed.

Due

  • Come prepared to work on a particular set of cuts within your team setting.

Week 11 – Editing Teamwork + Preparing File Exports

Tuesday – 03/27: Exporting Your Video Files

Readings

Due

  • Come prepared to work on a particular set of cuts within your team setting.

Other Information

  • In class, we will also discuss and practice exporting our videos in preparation for the web-page project.

Thursday – 03/29: Introduce new project, writing environments, + single-page website conventions

Readings

Due

  • Explained Video due via Canvas. Be sure to follow the procedure noted on the project page.
  • After reading Travis, analyze and take notes about how you see these different sites applying CRAP design principles. Come prepared to collate how single-page websites seem to apply particular design conventions for us to follow. Copy and use this table to organize your thoughts.

Other Information

  • In class, we will review the project description. Also, be sure to bring your laptops, so we can install GitHub and some other tools.

Project: Datastory Website

Week 12 – Introducing Fundamentals of Web Design Activity

Tuesday – 04/03: Basic project architecture + Git versioning

Readings

Due

  • After reading the Basic project architecture reading:
    1. Create a project directory within your current 3844 class folder on your computer.
    2. Name the project with the following file-naming scheme: lastname-datastory. For instance, my folder would be named the following: lindgren-datastory. Use this exact scheme, so be sure NOT to use capital letters.
    3. Inside this new project folder, create a project architecture, as noted in the above Basic project architecture reading.
    4. Be sure to create an empty index.html file in the root of the folder.
    5. Add this project to your Github account with the Github Desktop app before class.
    6. Add a new branch, named gh-pages. Use this exact name--no capital letters, and use the hyphen.
  • Download and install your code editor.

Other Information

  • In class, we will practice some basic versioning with the Desktop app, so come prepared with this prep work completed.
  • We will also review the Basic project architecture reading, because such knowledge will be very important to us throughout this project.

Thursday – 04/05: Fundamentals of HTML

Readings

  • Excerpt from Duckett, J. (2011). HTML & CSS. Wiley. (Google Drive Link). Read the following pages closely: pp. 20-32, 77-88, 179-188. You can skim the rest for your own knowledge and reference as we go through this project.

Due

  • Based on the Duckett reading, practice some HTML by writing your own Normal Flow HTML site. This site will not be your datastory site, so be sure to create a new directory and index.html file. This practice site can be about anything you desire; the focus of this assignment is to get better acquainted with HTML, your code editor, and Github. However, to provide a basic framework, you must at least create the following structure, as listed in this Codepen: Introduction to HTML. Copy and paste this into your new index.html file and get coding!

    You need not write the content of the page. Instead, you can use placeholder images and text (see the Resources page).

    One more note, be sure to practice good indentation work with your block elements, which means you must read Duckett carefully, when he discusses block and inline elements.

Other Information

  • In class, we will review Duckett through a prepared lecture-demo, wherein you will be tasked to follow along with your own code editor and Github app open and at-the-ready. In short, we will be writing more practice HTML code.

Week 13 – HTML Containing Blocks + Introduce CSS

Tuesday – 04/10: Review HTML Basics, Practice Git Versioning, and Introduce CSS

Readings

  • "Introducing CSS," Chapter 10 in Duckett, J. (2011). HTML & CSS. Wiley. (Google Drive Link)

Due

Thursday – 04/12: Practice CSS Selection, the Cascade, and Basic CSS Writing Strategies

Readings

  • None.

Due

  • Revise your practice-css homework, as per the directions noted in the lecture-demo

Week 14 – Introduce Responsive / Grid Layout Design & CSS3 Grid

Tuesday – 04/17: Review CSS Basics & Introduce Responsive & Mobile-First Design

Readings

Due

  • Print out the following image and take notes about the following terms by labeling the example Grid: Grid Container, Grid Item, Grid Cell, Grid Area, Rows, Columns, Tracks, Lines, Line Numbers, Grid Gap. Bring this completed printout to class to receive attendance for the day.

Other Information

  • In class, we will review questions about HTML/CSS, discuss mobile/responsive design, and the terms that Simmons introduces in her video. If time, we will practice some basic CSS grid work in preparation for Thursdays assignment and class.
  • Link to slides.

Thursday – 04/19: Introduce CSS3 Grid

Readings

Due

  • Download the following practice folder: practice-grid.zip and unzip it into your class practice folder. Add it to your Github App and work in the gh-pages branch. Follow the directions within the index.html file. Essentially, you are tasked to define different grids by writing HTML, then CSS. The videos will help you develop knowledge to learn how to complete these tasks.

Week 15 – More CSS3 Grid Practice and Prototyping

Tuesday – 04/24: Prototype your layout and website.

Readings

Due

  • Print out the grid paper and plan your single-page website layout as it would look on different screen sizes.
  • Create your datastory project folder and start developing the layout before class.

Other Information

  • Lab-based class, where you have time to address issues and work through problems and website elements in class.

Thursday – 04/26: Continue developing your layout and website.

Other Information

Week 16 – Finalizing the course.

Tuesday – 05/01: Keep developing your website + Participation Memos

Readings

  • Read the Participation Memo project page.

Due

  • Complete your website and bring it to class. We will have time to problem solve and consider what you need to do to complete and submit it for the final.

Week 17 – FINALS

Tuesday – 05/08: FINALS DUE

Due

  • Submit your revised projects, participation memo, and revision memo within a Google Drive folder. IF you revise your dataviz, be sure to share the SVG and a .png file, so I can see what you see on your computer. Name your revision folder with the following scheme: lastname-firstinitial-3844f17-finals. When you share it with me, use the message function to also provide the Github URL to your website.

    Submit a revision memo within the finals folder that reviews all of your revisions based on the provided feedback. Explain what you changed and why. You can use the same template as the participation memo, but make the obvious changes to the filename and subject line.

More schedule items coming soon.