cs498kgk Social Visualization Spring 2009
Siebel Center for Computer Science, Room 1304
Social Visualization - visualization of social data for social purposes. By social data we mean the traces that people leave as they go about their daily routine. These data may come from different sources such as the online world (i.e. email, IM logs, blogs, etc.) and the physical world (i.e. captured through sensors such as voice by microphone, movement and location data by camera, gps, ubisense device, etc.) Visualizations of these kinds of data can be used for increasing awareness of one's social environment and for highlighting cues and patterns implicit in communication.
This class explores visualizing social interaction in networked spaces. We emphasize visualizing the network identity of the person over compilations of online data that characterize information visualization.
We begin by exploring visualization of communication patterns in existing networked communication systems such as email, usenet, and instant messaging systems. We discuss social network theory and visualizations and explore how to move beyond the existing visualization techniques. As the class progresses, we will look to address social needs in interaction and create new communication tools that use visualization to augment interaction.
Coursework includes reading and critiquing papers and designing and implementing interactive visualizations (in java, director, or flash). There are in-class critiques and a final project. Students are required to create interactive social visualizations on a biweekly basis. The first week has readings about a topic; the following week involves programming the visualization. Every student will be given the same data to visualize.
The course stresses development in java. We will be supporting the use of Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/) development environment. This runs on many platforms. We recommend downloading and familiarizing yourself with this package before the course begins.
Example projects include visualizing:
20% class participation (missed classes should be cleared with instructor)
50% series of term projects
30% final project