University of Washington iSchool

Information Visualization and Aesthetics

INFO424, Autumn Quarter, 2006
(INFO424, 2005 home page)

Instructors

Maureen Stone & Polle Zellweger
mcstone@u.washington.edu
pollez@u.washington.edu
office hours: T,TH 11:15-12:00 330K MGH, or by appointment

TA: Marilyn Ostergren
ostergrn@u.washington.edu
office hours: T 2:30-3:30 330K MGH

Course Syllabus

Examines the visualization of information: the effects of human perception, the aesthetics of information design, the mechanics of visual display, and the semiotics of iconography. Examples may include census, epidemiological, crime, earth satellite, and medical data in the contexts of special computer applications, user populations, and cultures.

Quick Links

Syllabus, Schedule, Resources, Discussion Board
Reading Responses, Final Project Page, Visualization Critique Assignment,
Visualization Critique Wiki page, Excellent VisCritiques (description)
Spence text and videos, Tufte VDQI ch1 and ch 2(restricted to class members only)

Class times & locations

September 28 - December 8

Course Schedule
TuesdaysThursdaysFridays
lecture MGH 234lecture MGH 234lab MGH 430
one o'clock to two-twentyone o'clock to two-twenty one thirty to three-twenty
1:00-2:201:00-2:201:30-3:20

Required Textbooks

Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte Information Visualization by Robert Spence
Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte, 1990, Graphics Press Information Visualization by Robert Spence, 2nd edition, December 2006, ACM Press Books

Purchase the Tufte book from Amazon or a local book store.
The Spence readings are linked from here (or click on the cover image)