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Representing Data for a Decision
Assignment Three
due Tuesday, March 26
Self Commentary |Submission
Directions | Resources
Using Photoshop and Dreamweaver, create a set of Web pages addressed
to a person or group making a decision. The pages should combine graphical
and textual elements to inform and guide that decision, which might be
public, personal, managerial, governmental, economic, sports-related--virtually
any decision--and may concern a future or revisit a past decision
(as Tufte does in his chapter about the decision to launch the space shuttle
Challenger).
This graphic representation of data must include at least one original
chart, map, or graph showing at least 30 data points. The best projects
will also show more than one variable. All graphics must be in a Web-ready
image format, and fit on a standard browser window (on a monitor set at
an average resolution like 1024x768). The text on the pages should provide
all of the relevant background and contextual information that the decision-maker
needs--including the consequences of right and wrong choices.
You are free to state your opinion about the appropriate choice in this
situation. However, the tone of your project should be objective and fair,
and your relationship to the decision-makers should be that of an advisor
or consultant, rather than an advertiser.
All projects must demonstrate the first four of the six principles
of graphic data display identified by Edward Tufte starting on page
53 of "Visual and Statistical Thinking":
- documenting sources and characteristis of the data
- enforcing appropriate comparisons
- demonstrating mechanisms of cause and effect
- expressing those mechanisms quantitatively
- recognizing the inherently multivariate nature of analytic problems
- inspecting and evaluating alternative explanations
Information taken from outside sources must be cited appropriately, following
MLA
guidelines for in-text citations. The opening page of your project
must include prominent link that connects readers to a separate "Works
Cited" page. References within this section also must be formatted
according to MLA guidelines. All words must be spelled correctly in the
project, and all hyperlinks to internal documents must be relative.
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Self Commentary
As always, you'll write a self commentary,
which, along with discussing the usual design and process issues, will also
describe the specific person, situation, and decision that your project
addresses.
Submission Directions for the Presenting Evidence
for Decision Makers project
Your presentation will be posted as Web pages on your UMD Web space.
Your project pages should be placed in a folder called "decision"
inside your "www" folder. We will learn more about creating,
organizing and posting Web pages before this assignment is due
Resources for Presenting Evidence for Decision
Makers
I will place resources for this assignment here.
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