Assignment: Peer Review of Interactive Visualization

You will review three Interactive Visualization submissions from your classmates and share constructive feedback. This assignment is again an opportunity to both (a) develop skills to effectively evaluate visualization designs, and (b) help guide subsequent efforts by your peers to improve project quality across the class.

Assignment Description

For each peer review, begin by engaging with the prototype. Interact with the visualization and try to exhaustively cover the views and interactions that the prototype supports. Note what you discover and learn about the data set as you do so. You are also encouraged to read the write-ups to gain more insight into the process and design decisions behind the prototype.

Next, author a constructive critique of the visualization covering the following concerns:

• Visual Encodings. Are expressive and effective visual encodings applied? How well do they reveal the most important features or trends of the underlying data? Is critical data easily seen, or is it unnecessarily “hidden” and only revealed in response to interaction? Is the target audience likely to understand the visualization?
• Interaction Techniques. Do the supported interaction techniques enable more effective discovery of interesting trends, patterns or outliers? Do they engage the viewer in a process of meaningful exploration or learning? Are the interactions well-implemented, without notable performance issues or usability problems?
• Design Quality. Assess the overall design quality in terms of organization and presentation. Are elements appropriately titled or labeled? Is there appropriate spacing, layout, legible type, and other forms of design styling? Is it clear where to begin viewing/interacting with the design? Is the overall display confusing or cluttered? How successful is the prototype in meeting the intended goals?

For each of the concerns listed above – visual encodings, interaction techniques, and overall design quality – we will use the “I like / I wish / What if?” format. Be sure to share positive feedback on effective aspects, critical (but respectful!) feedback on what might be improved, and more wild (even half-baked) ideas a team might explore in subsequent design iterations. Each peer review should contain at least a dozen such comments, often much more!

Grading

Grading is based on “best effort”. If you complete the assignment, provide meaningful feedback specific to student designs, and produce the required amount of feedback, you should get full credit.

Submission Details

This is an individual assignment. You may not work in groups. Your assigned peer review submissions and a link to the review form will be shared on Ed.

You must submit peer evaluations for three prototypes. Please carefully respond to each of the questions raised above in your submissions. You should submit three separate forms, one for each assigned submission. When submitting your forms, please take care to enter the submission identifier exactly as provided. Typos that require manual correction by the course staff may result in point deductions.