Schedule
January
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March
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May

Journal Entries

These are the journal entries of the writings I've had you do both in-class and out. Please keep them in a flat binder labeled with the numbers below to turn in periodically, and at the end of the semester.

1. Anaylses of color in 3 logos (2/7)
2. Invention Activity: cluster for Representing Data for a Decision project (2/19)
3. Finding specific examples of Edward Tufte's six principles in his Chapter 2 (2/21)
4. Look again at the Salem Witchcraft hysteria Map and read the "How Could this Happen" page. Thinking about Edward Turfe's 3 technicques from page 13 of Chapter 1, answer the following questions in an information paragraph: * What does the Salem Village map quantify? * What techniques for depicting quantitiues does the map use or not? * What factors or variables are important in the verbal explanation that could be represented (or represented better) in the graphic explanation? (2/28)
5. Write four informal statements/lists about the current state of your Representing Data for a Decision project labeled with the letters COSQ:
   Concerns: what about the project are you figuring out, worried about?
   Obstacles: what specifically is in the way of your happily completing the project right now?
   Strengths: what do you like about your project, your process? What are you confident about? What do you have going for you?
   Questions: what questions do you have for me, for yourself, to put to someone else? (3/12)
6. Write about the choices you made (consciously, half-consciously, unconsciously) working in-class on your abstract, Molly-Bang-style recreation in Photoshop of a painting from the sample painting page. (3/28)
7. Browse through Bang's chapter of visual principles (pages 42-91) and make a list of effects that relate to the dynamics of your story: certain moods you want to achieve, the feelings you want your readers to have for your main character, the emotions you want them to feel at one part of the story or another. Begin making some visual guidelines for yourself to design your pages (and most effectively to suggest the most feelings and relationships of your story) in the pages you've begun to map out on your storyboard.
8. Interactive journal entry via the discussion board. See the prompt in the discussion titled "Picture Book Concerns (interactive journal) 4/11/02."
9. Questions about Minard's map:
   1. How many data points can you count?
   2. How many layers (or sets of variables) are included?
   3. Do you see any examples of Tufte's direct labels, encodings, and/or self representing scales?
   4. In what ways is the graphic quantified? Are there other ways it could be? (4/16/02)

10. Thinking about your Graphic Representation of a Process Project:

    A. Briefly explain your current idea for a topic or possible topics for this next project. Think on paper about why you chose this topic (or the relative strengths and weaknesses of the alternatives you're choosing among). If you have no ideas, write about why you think you're blocked and what you don't like about any of the ideas you've had.

    B. Answer the questions that Tufte suggests at point #1 on page 68. Tufte says that answering these questions for your audience, early in your presentation, helps to ensure that you're making clear what your presentation is doing and why it's important.

    C. Then, list possible "factors, causes, techniques or other elements" (see the first sentence of the assignment) you might include in your graphic(s). Which of these "factors, causes..." most speak to the "problem" of explanation or interpretation which your graphic(s) will solve? (4/23/02)

11. What relationships or comparisons will your graphic of a process show? Can you describe a scenario in which an audience would find your graphic representation of a narrative useful, revealing, or compelling? (4/25)

12. Look at the Checklist for the Graphic Representation of a Process project. Write about two of the criteria:

    1. first, one that you feel confident that you're fulfillilng in your project, and,
    2. then,one that you aren't clear about, or don't think that you're doing yet in your project at the moment. Think through this latter criterion on paper. What might it mean? What could you do to use this idea to improve your project?