First Day

The menu on the left will give you access to other materials related to the course.

Introductions and Roll

(Some things about me).

Syllabus and materials needed

For Thursday

• Please read Edward Tufte, Chapter 1 "Images and Quantities," pg. 13
• Obtain a Zip disk or jump drive and create a structure of folders that looks like this:

What is Visual Rhetoric?

As a young engineer in Anvers in 1813, Charles Joseph Menard witnessed the horors of war in the seige by the Prussian army. In his final year [of life], he sensed the renewal of the Franco-Prussian war and, though frail and infirm, fled to Bordeaux with his family. Among his last works, he drew a pair of flow-maps together: the famous one of Napoleon's Russian campaign, and another of Hannibal's retreat from Spain through the Alps to Italy, again with great loss of life. "The graphical representation is gripping:" writes biographer V. Chevallier "...it inspires bitter reflections on the human cost of the thirst for military gloryî [1, p. 18]. It may well be, for this reason, that Minard's most famous graphic [is said to have defied] the pen of the historian.

- From a biographical entry on Charles Menard

See Menard's famous, persuasive graphic and revisions of it by later designers at the site Re-Visions of Menard

See also Edward Tufte's page, adapted from a chapter of his book Beautiful Evidence, on sparklines.

First Project: Visualized Data

The Visualized Data Project will be due Monday, February 12.

Seating

Please try to sit where you did on the first day. This will help me learn your names this semester.

Roll

Questions?

...on the class? the syllabus? the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)? Creating folders on your USB drive or Zip disk?

For Tuesday

Please read Edward Tufte, Chapter 2 "Visual and Statistical Thinking," pg. 27

What is Visual Rhetoric?

We looked at Menard's famous, persuasive graphic (and revisions of it by later designers at the site Re-Visions of Menard

See also Edward Tufte's page, adapted from a chapter of his book Beautiful Evidence, on sparklines.

What is not Visual Rhetoric?

Consider the following parody of an information graphic from The Onion.

• What point is this graphic making?
• Why is the "visualizing" of the bar graph informationally flat?

First Project Again

Let's look again at the assignment, which includes a few more details.

Key Terms

• visual rhetoric
• data point
• documentation

Tufte

Today, we'll discuss Edward Tufte's Chapter One: "Images and Quantities."

Key Terms

• direct labels / encodings / self-representing scales
• informationally flat graphics,
• dequantification / quantification
• the art and science of scaling

Resources:

• Representational Space (Ideas Site)

Beginning Banner Techniques (2:45)

Time permitting, we'll begin our first exercise in Photoshop.

Follow the directions on the in-class handout as well as at the page "Beginning Banner Techniques."

In this exercise, you'll learn to combine typefaces and images in Photoshop to create a "banner" like the one used at the top of Web pages like this one.

Seating

Please try to sit where you did in the first week. This will help me learn your names this semester.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)?

Key Terms you should understand so far

• visual rhetoric
• data point
• documentation (MLA format)
• direct labels/ encodings / self-representing scales,
• informationally flat graphics (The Onion homelessness example)
• dequantification / quantification (severe storm example)
• the art and science of scaling (sunspot example)

For Thursday

Please read Edward Tufte's Chapter 3, "Explaining Magic: Pictorial Instructions and Disinformation Design," starting page 55

When You Leave

When you leave today, don't forget to

• save all your files to your drive/disk
• take your drive/disk
• log out of your computer workstation (double-click the "Logout" icon on the desktop)

Tufte's Chapter 2

Today We'll discuss Edward Tufte's Chapter Two: "Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions."

Key Terms

• displaying causality vs. descriptive narration
• aggregation (of data)
• evidence (vs. numbers)
• selection of data (defining terms of the decision)
• chartjunk
• order
• enforcing comparisons
• "multivariate" nature of analytic problems
• "precise seeing is precise thinking"

Resources:

• Representational Space (Ideas Site)

Beginning Banner Techniques

We'll complete the exercise "Beginning Banner Techniques" starting where we left off Thursday.

Intermediate Banner Techniques

Then we'll do the exercise "Intermediate Banner Techniques" using the same .psd (Photoshop) file.

For these exercises, you need to have followed instructions for downloading images on the page "Banner Techniques" from the Techniques Site. These images should be saved in your "nonwww" folder.

Moving Files to the Web

In class, we'll upload the completed banner to your "www" folder on the Web using the "My Web" icon your your desktop.

Posting the URL to Webx

Please send the URL (Web address) of your banner exercise file to the Webx discussion banner URLs. You will need to follow the direction in the handout "Logging into Webx Discussion Board"which I will give you in class.

Seating

Please try to sit where you did in the first week. This will help me learn your names this semester.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)?

Key Terms

Here are the key terms you should understand so far

Class Subject Matter

• visual rhetoric
• "precise seeing is precise thinking"

Visualized Data Project

• data point

Methods and Ideas (Tufte)

• documentation (MLA format)
• direct labels / encodings / self-representing scales,
• informationally flat graphics (The Onion homelessness example)
• dequantification / quantification (severe storm example)
• the art and science of scaling (sunspot example)
• displaying causality vs. descriptive narration
• aggregation (of data)
• evidence (vs. numbers)
• selection of data (defining terms of the decision)
• chartjunk
• order
• enforcing comparisons
• "multivariate" nature of analytic problems

For Tuesday

Bring in image files, plans, sketches, text, sources, etc. for the Visualized Data Project so you can begin (or continue) to work on it as part of class activities.

Logging into Webx

Using the handout "Logging into Webx Discussion Board," log into the Webx discussion board and complete the steps for changing your Preferences.

Tufte's Chapter 3

Today, we'll discuss Edward Tufte's Chapter Three "Explaining Magic..." (pages 55-71) by posting a message to the Webx discussion "Tufte Chapter 3." See the directions in the header of that discussion for specific instructions.

Some major ideas from the chapter that I would like to cover today:

• disinformation,
• target and mask,
• attention control,
• particular / general / particular (presentation plan)
• high-resolution talks (vs. low resolution)
• call outs,
• retention of vision,
• the equivalence of time and space on paper,

Intermediate Banner Techniques

We'll complete the exercise "Intermediate Banner Techniques" using the same .psd (Photoshop) file.

For these exercises, you need to have followed instructions for downloading images on the page "Banner Techniques" from the Techniques Site. These images should be saved in your "nonwww" folder.

Moving Files to the Web

In class, we'll upload the completed banner to your "www" folder on the Web using the "My Web" icon your your desktop.

Posting the URL to Webx

Please send the URL (Web address) of your banner exercise file to the Webx discussion banner URLs. You will need to follow the direction in the handout "Logging into Webx Discussion Board" which I will give you in class.

Seating

Please try to sit where you did in the first week. This will help me learn your names this semester.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)?

For Thursday

Bring in image files, plans, sketches, text, sources, etc. for the Visualized Data Project so you can begin (or continue) to work on it as part of class activities.

Open Photoshop

...and then the file "banner.psd"

Intermediate Banner Techniques

We'll complete the exercise "Intermediate Banner Techniques" using the same .psd (Photoshop) file.

For these exercises, you need to have followed instructions for downloading images on the page "Banner Techniques" from the Techniques Site. These images should be saved in your "nonwww" folder.

Posting the URL to Webx

Please send the URL (Web address) of your banner exercise file to the Webx discussion banner URLs. You will need to follow the direction in the handout "Logging into Webx Discussion Board" which I will give you in class.

Simple Charts In Excel and Photoshop

For this exercise, you'll need some "labels" and "values"

Perspective Maps

View a map from Google Maps to begin this exercise.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)?
...Intermediate Banner Techniques?
...posting to the Web?
...sending URLs to Webx?
...Simple Charts with Excel Exercise?

For Tuesday

Bring in image files, plans, sketches, text, sources, etc. for the Visualized Data Project so you can begin (or continue) to work on it as part of class activities.

Open Photoshop

Some Sources for Statistics

• Pew Research Center
• NationMaster
• StateMaster
• Google Trends
• Swivel
• Worldmapper
• FedStats (Gateway to US Government Federal Statistics)
• UMD Library's Databases by Subject

Visit one of these sites and choose one report or set of data to discuss.

In a message to the Webx discussion "Review of Statistics Web Sites," paste in the URL of the report you chose and write a paragraph explaining what the data is about: what it shows, what it suggests, the questions it raises.

Perspective Maps

View a map from Google Maps to begin this exercise.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due 2/12)?
...Simple Charts with Excel Exercise?
...Perspective Map (so far)?

For Thursday

We will have a Studio Day to work on the Visualized Data Project. This will be the last class meeting we'll have before this project is due by noon on Monday, February 12.

Bring in image files, plans, sketches, text, sources, etc. for the Visualized Data Project so you can begin (or continue) to work on it as part of class activities.

Open Photoshop

A Few Additional Requirements

Please see the "Format" section of the Visualized Data Assignment Page for some additional requirements to be included in your project

Some Sources for Statistics

• Pew Research Center
• NationMaster
• StateMaster
• Google Trends
• Swivel
• Worldmapper
• FedStats (Gateway to US Government Federal Statistics)
• UMD Library's Databases by Subject

Perspective Maps

We will continue with this exercise.

Roll

Questions?

...on the Visualized Data Project (due Monday, 2/12)?
...the additional requirements in the "Format" section of the Visualized Data Assignment Page?
...Perspective Map Exercise

Visualized Data Project Due by Monday, February 12 at noon

To turn in the Visualized Data Project by the deadline:

1. Creating and saving your project in Photoshop as a .psd file. Save this version in your non-www folder.
2. When you have completed your project, save it "for the Web" as a .jpg or .gif file (whichever makes a smaller file at acceptable quality). In Photoshop, choose File > Save for Web. Save the .jpg or .gif file in a folder www/3220/visual (that is, a folder called "visual" inside of the folder "3220" in your "www" folder on your disk).
3. With Windows, open your disk and your "3220" folder inside of "www"
4. From the computer's desktop, open the "My Web Files" icon. You will need to log in with your UMD userid and password.
5. Drag (copy) your "visual" folder from your disk to the "3220" folder in "My Web Files." This will put the "visual" folder on the Web.
6. Visit the revised page with your browser to check that it is working. To do this with your browser, start by going to UMD's home page. Type a slash, a tilda (~), and your userid at the end of the URL in the Location Box (for example "http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe"). Hit "Enter." From the "index" page that will appear, click into "3220," into "visual," and then click the image file inside of "visual." Your project should appear in the browser's window.
7. Copy the entire URL (including the "http://...) into a messsage to the Webx discussion "Visualized Data URLs."
8. Write a commentary on the final version, print it out, and turn it in at the beginning of class on Tuesday 2/13.

Commentary on Visualized Data Project Due at the Beginning of Class on Tuesday 2/13

See the directions for writing the commentary from the syllabus.

Visualized Data Checklist

I will give you a copy of the Visualized Date Checklist.

Studio Day

Though you'll be working individually today, plan on staying the entire class period, the same as any other class meeting.

Roll

For Next Tuesday,

Printout and Commentary

Today, I'll collect the commentary and printout of your Visualized Data Project. The section "Printouts and Commentaries" on the syllabus has complete directions.

Introducing the Next Project and Brainstorming

We'll also look carefully at the next assignment, list some ideas for stories we can tell visually, and plot them using the in-class handout "Freytag's Triangle."

As an example of the role (and varieties) of tension in a narrative, we'll look at William Stafford's poem, "Traveling Through the Dark."

Roll

For Thursday

Bring in the idea for your Graphic Narrative Project. We will be working in class on it.

Questions?

Molly Bang

To review the principles of visual design in Molly Bangs' Picture This, we'll do a group exercise to "compose" this graphic scene. Download and open the Photoshop file "Ed."

Ed is at home, relaxing (exposition). His peace is interrupted by a knock at the door (tension, rising action). He answers the door to find an imposing figure he doesn't at first recognize (more tension, action rising further).

How do we want to visualize the scene to create the visual sense of Ed's tension at the sight of this person at his door?

Brainstorming

We'll brainstorm an idea for the Graphic Narrative assignment using the handout "Brainstorming Session: The Graphic Narrative Project."

Resources

• Ted Kooser's Poem, "The Urine Specimen"
• The "Ed" Photoshop file

Roll

For Tuesday

We will have a "Studio Day" for working on your Graphic Narrative Project. Bring in all materials you need to work on this project.

Graphic Narrative Due next Wednesday

The Graphic Narrative Project will be due by noon on Wednesday, February 28. By this time, post the project to the Web, visit it with your browser to check that it's working, copy the URL, and then paste that URL to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs."

See the directions for creating a "Web Photo Gallery" on the Graphic Narrative page.

Questions?

Continue Brainstorming

We'll continue brainstorming an idea for the Graphic Narrative assignment using the handout "Brainstorming Session: The Graphic Narrative Project."

Backgrounds from Photos (Graphic Narrative)

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For this exercise, you'll need the handout (which I will give you in class) and to download the classic Alfred Eisenstaedt photo from the celebration in Times Square at the end of World War II. Download this photo into your nonwww folder. Once we've completed this exercise:

1. Save the completed Photoshop file to your nonwww folder as "background1.psd."
2. Then, "Save for the Web" (as a .GIF) to a folder called "backgrounds" in your exercises folder in 3220.
3. Using Dreamweaver, move the "backgrounds" folder to your folder "3220/exercises" on the Web, and send the URL to the Webx discussion "backgrounds."

Roll

By Wednesday, 2/28 at Noon

The Graphic Narrative Project will be due by noon on Wednesday, February 28. By this time, post the project to the Web, visit it with your browser to check that it's working, copy the URL, and then paste that URL to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs."

See the directions for creating a "Web Photo Gallery" on the Graphic Narrative assignment page.

For Thursday: Workshop Begins

On Thursday, we will begin a three-day workshop of the Graphic Narrative Project. Follow the directions below to be prepared for this workshop.

After the due date at noon and before class, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Graphic Narrative projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.Bring both the printout of your comments and the digital file to class.

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail list on the the form "Workshop Comments for Today."

Studio Session

Today we will have a Studio Session to work on the Graphic Narrative Project in class. Though you are working individually, this is a regular class meeting. Please plan on staying till the usual ending time of 3:15.

Turning in the Graphic Narrative by Wednesday at noon

1. Completely empty the folder "www/3220/narrative" on your disk.
2. Use Photoshop to create a Web Photo Gallery in a folder called "narrative" in your "www/3220" folder on your disk.
3. Move the entire "narrative" folder to the Web (to the top level of the "3220" folder)
4. Visit the first page with your Web browser
5. Copy the URL, and
6. Paste the URL into a message to the Webx dicussion "narrative URLs " (under "Projects").

Printout and Commentary due Thursday

As you did with the first project, you'll write a commentary and print out a copy of your project to turn in on Thursday.

To save paper, I suggest using Photoshop's automated "Contact Sheet II" to print the images of your project, four to a page.

1. In Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Contact Sheet II.
2. On the "Contact Sheet II" dialogue box, click the "Browse" button to navigate to the "source" folder containing the original, .psd versions of your Graphic Narrative images. Choose the folder and then "OK."
3. On the dialogue box, skip down to the "Thumbnails" section, and enter 2 next to "Columns" and 2 next to "Rows." Click OK.
4. Photoshop will then produce separate page-sized Photoshop documents with your images arranged four to a page. Print out these documents. You can save them in your "nonwww" folder if you wish--or not if you don't think you'll want them again.

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus for details about writing the commentary.

Roll

By Wednesday, 2/28 at Noon

The Graphic Narrative Project will be due by noon on Wednesday, February 28. By this time, post the project to the Web, visit it with your browser to check that it's working, copy the URL, and then paste that URL to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs."

See the directions for creating a "Web Photo Gallery" on the Graphic Narrative assignment page or page 424 in your Photoshop book.

For Thursday: Workshop Begins

On Thursday, we will begin a three-day workshop of the Graphic Narrative Project. Follow the directions below to be prepared for this workshop.

After the due date at noon and before class, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Graphic Narrative projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.Bring both the printout of your comments and the digital file to class.

(Each of these links opens in a separate window.)

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, individually send each author your comments on his or her project by clicking on each person's userid or icon in the Webx discussion "narrative URLs. "

Studio Session

Today we will have a Studio Session to work on the Graphic Narrative Project in class. Though you are working individually, this is a regular class meeting. Please plan on staying till the usual ending time of 3:15.

Turning in the Graphic Narrative by Wednesday at noon

1. Completely empty the folder "www/3220/narrative" on your disk.
2. Use Photoshop to create a Web Photo Gallery in a folder called "narrative" in your "www/3220" folder on your disk (if you'd like to practice, you can use the image at "sample web_photo_gallery"). See page 424 in your Photoshop book.
3. Move the entire "narrative" folder to the Web (to the top level of the "3220" folder)
4. Visit the first page with your Web browser
5. Copy the URL, and
6. Paste the URL into a message to the Webx dicussion "narrative URLs " (under "Projects").

Printout and Commentary due Thursday

As you did with the first project, you'll write a commentary and print out a copy of your project to turn in on Thursday.

To save paper, I suggest using Photoshop's automated "Contact Sheet II" to print the images of your project, four to a page. See page 419 in your Photoshop book.

1. In Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Contact Sheet II.
2. On the "Contact Sheet II" dialogue box, click the "Browse" button to navigate to the "source" folder containing the original, .psd versions of your Graphic Narrative images. Choose the folder and then "OK."
3. On the dialogue box, skip down to the "Thumbnails" section, and enter 2 next to "Columns" and 2 next to "Rows." Click OK.
4. Photoshop will then produce separate page-sized Photoshop documents with your images arranged four to a page. Print out these documents. You can save them in your "nonwww" folder if you wish--or not if you don't think you'll want them again.

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus for details about writing the commentary.

Roll

Collect Commentaries and Printouts

For Tuesday: Workshop Continues

Before class on each of the workshop days, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page and the assignment page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Graphic Narrative projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.Bring both the printout of your comments and the digital file to class.

Workshop

(Each of these links opens in a separate window.)

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, individually send each author your comments on his or her project by clicking on each person's userid or icon in the Webx discussion "narrative URLs.

Workshop Resources

• Plot summaries for Purple Rain and 8 Mile.
• dielgetic vs. non-diegetic elements (for example, music in film)
• an ant farm
• lyrics to "Constellations"
• Blake's "A Poison Tree"
• lyrics to "Rocky Raccoon"
  

Roll

Collect Commentaries and Printouts

Introducing the Analytical Essay

See the assignment page. This essay will be due on Tuesday, 3/27

For Thursday: Workshop Continues

Before class on each of the workshop days, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page and the assignment page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Graphic Narrative projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "narrative URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.Bring both the printout of your comments and the digital file to class.

Workshop of the Graphic Narratives

(Each of these links opens in a separate window.)

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, individually send each author your comments on his or her project by clicking on each person's userid or icon in the Webx discussion "narrative URLs.

Workshop Resources

• Plot summaries for Purple Rain and 8 Mile.
• lyrics to the song "Purple Rain"
• William Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings....recollected in tranquility."
• dielgetic vs. non-diegetic elements (for example, music in film)
• an ant farm
• lyrics to "Constellations"
• Blake's "A Poison Tree"
• lyrics to "Rocky Raccoon"
  

Roll

For Thursday

Bring in a few image to choose from for your Analytical Essay Project (due Tuesday, 3/27)

Workshop of the Graphic Narratives

(Each of these links opens in a separate window.)

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, individually send each author your comments on his or her project by clicking on each person's userid or icon in the Webx discussion "narrative URLs.

Workshop Resources

• Plot summaries for Purple Rain and 8 Mile.
• lyrics to the song "Purple Rain"
• William Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings....recollected in tranquility."
• dielgetic vs. non-diegetic elements (for example, music in film)
• an ant farm
• lyrics to "Constellations"
• Blake's "A Poison Tree"
• lyrics to "Rocky Raccoon"
  

Roll

Next Tuesday:

• The Analytical Essay Project will be due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, 3/27
• Also on Tuesday, bring your Edward Tufte book, Visual Explanations.
• I will return your Graphic Narrative projects to you by next Tuesday

Introducing the ReVision Project

This assignment will be due by the day/time of our scheduled final exam period. See the schedule for details.

Questions about the Analytical Essay?

How Critical Paragraphs Work
Today, we'll look at the Checklist for the essay, and use it to analyze some critical paragraphs from a sample student essay about an image, "His Majesty the American Citizen."

The point of this activity is to help you see how

• facts to explain and analyze the context,
• ideas/quotations from secondary sources like Tufte and Bang, and
• details from your own "reading" of the image

can all work together in the same paragraph.

Cultural Encoding
Note in the first sample paragraph how the writer extends Tufte's idea of "encoding" to include various kinds of cultural symbols and "understood" objects.

If an image includes, for instance, a view of the former World Trade Center in New York, that detail is "encoded" with a whole set of assocations and meanings. It's interesting, in fact, to notice how the various television shows like The Sopranos and Sex and the City removed images of the TWC from their opening sequences after 9/11 because of the cultural encoding distracted from worlds of the shows themselves. In a sense, just as objects in images cast literal shadows to create the colors scales that Tufte talks about, objects also cast cultural shadows that remind us of the contentional, historical and social meanings that these objects have accrued.

Practice
I will ask you to try writing or revision a paragraph for your own essay attempting to mingle, as we've seen in the sample paragraphs, context, sources, and details of your reading of the image.

Roll

Analytical Essay
Today, I will pick up your Analytical Essays at the beginning of class.

For Thursday
Please read Edward Tufte's Chapter 7, "Visual Confections." This chapter is essential reading for completing the next assignment. Be sure to bring the book to class on Thursday.

Introducing the ReVision Project
This assignment will be due by the day/time of our scheduled final exam period. See the schedule.

Introducing the Confection Project

See the assignment page for details, and the schedule for the due date. This assignment is based on Chapter 7 of Edward Tufte's book "Visual Confections."

Selecting with Masks

See the page "Selecting with Masks" for details. I will also give you an in-class handout. You will put the final product on the Web and send the URL to the Webx discussion "Selecting with Masks" by Wednesday at 2:00.

Roll

Questions?

For Tuesday

• Bring your Tufte book

Tufte's Chapter 7: Visual Confections

We'll discuss Tufte's chapter on Visual Confections.

You may need this link to the Webx discussion Tufte C7.

Checklist for Confection

I will give you a checklist for this next project, and we'll work through the main ideas on it using examples from Tufte's book.

Group Work

You'll work in groups on a sample idea for a confection based on Tufte's concept of effective presentation techniques on page 68.

Confection Skills

Visit the page for this exercise on the Techniques Site to download images.

Save the final product to your non-www folder, then

• save a .jpg version "...for the Web" in a folder www/3220/exercises/confection on your disk.
• save that folder to the Web (inside of "exercises") via "My Web Files" on the desktop,
• visit the image with your browser, and
• copy the URL to a message to the Webx discussion "confection skills"

Roll

Questions?

For Tuesday

• Bring your Tufte book

Checklist for Confection

We'll work through the main idea from the checklist for this next project using examples from Tufte's book.

Group Work

You'll work in groups on a sample idea for a confection based on Tufte's concept of effective presentation techniques on page 68.

Some Types of Conceptual Relations (and some examples from Tufte's chapter)

• Types of a Kind
• Causes and Effect(s) (144)
• Event and Consequences
• Sequential Order (Process) (140)
• Relational Processes (142)
• Narrative Order (Story)
• Alternative Possibilities (143)
• Positions in a Debate (132-133)
• Inventory (124)
• Analytical Anatomy (134)
• Elements of a Definition (126)

Confection Skills

Visit the page for this exercise on the Techniques Site to download images.

Save the final product to your non-www folder, then

• save a .jpg version "...for the Web" in a folder www/3220/exercises/confection on your disk.
• save that folder to the Web (inside of "exercises") via "My Web Files" on the desktop,
• visit the image with your browser, and
• copy the URL to a message to the Webx discussion "confection skills"

Roll

Questions?

For Tuesday

• See Create Your Own Exercise below. On Tuesday, we'll take a portion of the class period to try out some of the techniques taught in these exercises.

Today's Key Ideas

• conceptual model, analogy/metaphor, elaborated ideas vs. labels

Networking In-Class

For 10 minutes, we'll pair or "triple" up to discuss our confection project topic and the major choices involved:

• Having a substantial, useful, fully developed conceptual model as a topic, rather than an informally defined idea or mood that would inform a collage. (For an example of what I mean by "conceptual model" see this except from the book House Thinking by Winifred Gallagher, in which she presents a a theory about what makes certain houses and rooms inviting and appealing to us.)
• Deciding strategically among layout options: of an imagined scene, compartments, or a hybrid
• Using the background as an analogy or metaphor to suggest the nature of the concept and the dynamic relations of its component parts
• Develping each part of the concept as an elaborated idea in itself, rather than just a label or icon that appears in a visual list.

Create Your Own Exercise 1 (for Tuesday)

For Tuesday , I will ask you to pick a tool or technique from the Photoshop book to present to the class as an exercise.

1. Look through the Photoshop book to find a technique or tool. If you don't find something you like, use Photoshop's Help screens or one of the Web sites below.

• NAPP tutorials
• Adobe Photoshop Tutorials
• Designer-info.com
• Photoshop Madness

2. Try the technique out in Photoshop using a photo of your own (or one you downloaded).

3. Save your final product of the technique to a folder (www/3220/exercises/photoshop1) as "finished" (either .jpg or .gif)

4. Save the original image you started with to the same folder under its original name.

5. Come up with a descriptive or catchy title for your exercise, and send a message to the Webx discussion photoshop techniques 1 with:

a. on the first line of the message, your title,

b. on the second line, the page number (from the Photoshop book) or URL for the tutorial on the Web,

c. on the third line, a link to your completed, "after" image,

d. on the fourth line, a link to the original, "before" image,

e. starting on the fifth line, any additional directions, commentary, cautions, etc. you can offer us on completing your exercise. For example, "In Step 4, be sure to..."

Confection Skills (Completed)

Visit the page for this exercise on the Techniques Site to download images.

Save the final product to your non-www folder, then

• save a .jpg version "...for the Web" in a folder www/3220/exercises/confection on your disk.
• save that folder to the Web (inside of "exercises") via "My Web Files" on the desktop,
• visit the image with your browser, and
• copy the URL to a message to the Webx discussion "confection skills"

Roll

Questions?

Thursday 4/12

• We will not meet as a class on Thursday. The room will be available if you'd like to come in a work.

For Next Tuesday

• Continue working on your Confection Project
• Bring in your Photoshop book and Tufte

Downloads

• You can now download a 30-day free trial of Photoshop for use during the remainder of the semester

Today's Key Ideas

• conceptual model, analogy/metaphor, elaborated ideas vs. labels

Discussion: Is This a Confection?

Above is the cover art from Radiohead's 2000 album "Hail to the Thief."

Is this a confection according to Tufte's definition and our assignment criteria?

Using details from the criteria, the assignment page, and from Tufte's book (if you have it), post a message to the Webx discussion "radioheadmaking the argument that this cover is or is not a confection.

If you're not sure, start by writing about how you would decide.

Create Your Own Exercise 1

Today, you will lead the class through the technique or tool you chose for today.

I will ask you to show us, step by step, how to start with the "before" image you posted to the Webx discussion photoshop techniques 1 and, step by step, apply your technique/tool to it to create a product like your "after" image.

Roll

Questions?

For Tuesday 4/17: Adjustments to the "Create Your Own" Photoshop Exercise

It occurs to me that it would be simpler to make these postings stand on their own, and use the reference to the pages in the book (or to an online tutorial) as a supplement.  So let's try this by our next meeting on Tuesday:

1. Visit your own posting at the Webx discussion "photoshop techiques 1."

2. Try selecting "Edit" from the heading of your own message.

If Webx does not allow you to edit this message any longer, copy the text of your original message, select the "Reply" option in the heading of your message, and paste the original message into the reply message window.

3. In this editable version, expand your commentary, summarizing the steps we are to follow, including the tools to be selected, the settings required, and the actions to be performed.  If you wish, you can deviate from the steps as they appear in the book or online tutorial.

4. Be sure to leave the page numbers or URL for the source of your exercise.

5. Post the edited message or reply so it will appear in the Webx discussion, either replacing your original message or appearing nested beneath it.

Let me know if you have questions.  We will continue trying these techniques out on Tuesday.  Also remember to bring your Tufte and Photoshop books.

For Thursday

• Write a paragraph summarizing the concept on which your Confection Project is based. The paragraph should serve as an accessible introduction to the concept you've chosen to visualize, but be substantive enough to do justice to the original. Save the paragraph on your disk/drive. You will turn this in electronically on Thursday in class.
• Continue working on your Confection Project
• Bring in your Photoshop and Tufte books

Create Your Own Exercise 1

Today, you will lead the class through the technique or tool you chose for today.

I will ask you to show us, step by step, how to start with the "before" image you posted to the Webx discussion photoshop techniques 1 and, step by step, apply your technique/tool to it to create a product like your "after" image.

Roll

Questions?

For Tuesday

• Bring in all materials you'll need to work on your Confection Project during a Studio Day on Tueaday.
• Continue working on your Confection Project

The Confection Project is due by Noon on Wednesday, April 2

Turn in Your Confection Paragraph

For today, I asked you to write a paragraph summarizing the concept on which your Confection Project is based, and bring it in on your disk.

The paragraph is to serve as an accessible introduction to the concept you've chosen to visualize, but be substantive enough to do justice to the original.

Now:

1. Pair up with your neighbor to read one another's paragraph. See what questions you can ask about your neighbor's paragraph and the concept it describes.
2. Revise your paragraph so it answers some of the questions you neighbor may have asked. Unpack and elaborate what may have been left between the lines of what you brought in.
3. When you have revised the paragraph, copy it into a message to the Webx discussion "confection summaries as of 4/19"

Blending Images with the Gradient

For this exercise, you'll receive an in-class handout.

Download the four images from my page Representational Space into your non-www folder and open them with Photoshop.

Once you have posted the final, optimized image to the Web, visit it with your browser, copy the URL and paste it into a message to the Webx discussion "gradient image URLs."

Roll

Confection Project Due Wednesday, April 25 at noon

Post your image to your folder www/3220/confection on the Web. Send the URL to the Webx discussion "Confection URLs"

Any questions on this project?

Printout and Commentary due Thursday

You'll write a commentary and print out a copy of your project to turn in on Thursday.

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus for details about writing the commentary.

Preparing for Workshop on Thursday

After the due date at noon on Wednesday and before Thursday's class, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Confection projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "Confection URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. Bring your comments to class in both print and digital form.

Thursday 4/26

1. Cheryl
2. Jeremy
3. Joshua
4. Renee
5. Justine
6. Colleen C.

Tuesday 5/1

7. Elizabeth E.
8. Sarah G.
9. Sarah L
10. Eric
11. Megan
12. Andrew

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours after)

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail list on the the form "Workshop Comments for Today."

Studio Session Today

We'll have a final Studio Session today to work on the Confection Project.

Roll

Collect Printout and Commentary

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus.

Preparing for Workshop on Tuesday

After the due date at noon on Wednesday and before Thursday's class, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Confection projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "Confection URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. Bring your comments to class in both print and digital form.

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours) After Workshop

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail function of the Webx discussion "Confection URLs"

Workshop

Thursday 4/26

1. Cheryl

Field of Labradors

http://www.d.umn.edu/~olso2265/3220/confection/confection.jpg

I did my confection on the "uses" of labrador retrievers. I used the sunspot example from the Tufte book as a model for the style of my confection. The labradors all coexist in one large field but have different purposes. While one is a cute puppy another is a strong rescue dog.

2. Jeremy

http://www.d.umn.edu/~piep0072/3220/confection/confection.jpg

I did my confection on the many uses of coffee, which I discovered goes beyond merely drinking it.

3. Joshua

http://www.d.umn.edu/~proda002/3220/confection/waterfall.jpg

My confection is done on the "waterfall model" of software development.

4. Renee

http://www.d.umn.edu/~sand0621/3220/Projects/Confection/Influence.jpg

My confection is the 6 weapons of influence that persuaders use for compliance.

5. Justine

Tuesday 5/1

7. Elizabeth E.

http://www.d.umn.edu/~enkex006/3220/confection/confection.jpg

9. Sarah L

http://www.d.umn.edu/~lind1325/3220/confection/confection.gif

I chose to do my confection project on the Social Penetration Theory. This theory explains how people move through levels of penetrating another person, that is, getting to know another person, through self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is sharing things about yourself with another person. What Social Penetration Theory suggests is that one moves through levels of intimate disclosures. People who are just getting to know one another might talk about what classes they are taking and where they are from. The more disclosing that goes on the closer they get to the center of intimate disclosures. It is like peeling back an onion, one layer at a time.

10. Eric

11. Megan

12. Andrew

Roll

Collect Printout and Commentary

See the "Printout and Commentary" section of the syllabus.

Preparing for Workshop on Tuesday

After the due date at noon on Wednesday and before Thursday's class, please do the following:

1. Review the workshopping page for ideas about what you might discuss in your comments.
2. Visit the Confection projects listed for the class meeting in the schedule below. Before class on workshop day, I'll link the names in this schedule to the projects, but, in the meantime, go directly to the Webx discussion "Confection URLs" to follow the URLs there.
3. Type and printout written comments and suggestions for each project scheduled for that day. Bring your comments to class in both print and digital form.

Sending Your Comments (within 24 hours) After Workshop

1. Within 24 hours after the workshop, copy and paste all the written comments you've made for everyone actually discussed (not just scheduled for) that day into the form "Workshop Comments for Today" and click "Send." These comments will come to me. Be sure to label each set of comments with the project number and name of the project's author.
2. Individually send each author your comments on his or her project by using the e-mail function of the Webx discussion "Confection URLs"

Workshop

Thursday 4/26

1. Cheryl

Field of Labradors

http://www.d.umn.edu/~olso2265/3220/confection/confection.jpg

I did my confection on the "uses" of labrador retrievers. I used the sunspot example from the Tufte book as a model for the style of my confection. The labradors all coexist in one large field but have different purposes. While one is a cute puppy another is a strong rescue dog.

2. Jeremy

http://www.d.umn.edu/~piep0072/3220/confection/confection.jpg

I did my confection on the many uses of coffee, which I discovered goes beyond merely drinking it.

3. Joshua

http://www.d.umn.edu/~proda002/3220/confection/waterfall.jpg

My confection is done on the "waterfall model" of software development.

4. Renee

http://www.d.umn.edu/~sand0621/3220/Projects/Confection/Influence.jpg

My confection is the 6 weapons of influence that persuaders use for compliance.

5. Justine

Tuesday 5/1

7. Elizabeth E.

http://www.d.umn.edu/~enkex006/3220/confection/confection.jpg

9. Sarah L

http://www.d.umn.edu/~lind1325/3220/confection/confection.gif

I chose to do my confection project on the Social Penetration Theory. This theory explains how people move through levels of penetrating another person, that is, getting to know another person, through self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is sharing things about yourself with another person. What Social Penetration Theory suggests is that one moves through levels of intimate disclosures. People who are just getting to know one another might talk about what classes they are taking and where they are from. The more disclosing that goes on the closer they get to the center of intimate disclosures. It is like peeling back an onion, one layer at a time.

10. Eric

11. Megan

12. Andrew