SG2047 VISUALIZING SOCIETY

TASK 2 - DESIGN A DATA GRAPHIC

COURSEWORK 2024|25

Overview

Your task is to use visualization software to design effective graphical depictions of a multivariate data set that captures variation in aspects of society across a designated region of London.

This will require you to use interactive graphical techniques to explore the data set and knowledge of visualization to design effective static graphics that communicate your findings.

You must use and cite established knowledge about visualization design to inform and justify your graphics – including the series of Data Visualization Design Tests or HeurVIStics and other principles, guidelines and examples that we have been considering in the module.

Your designs will be submitted as a Dashboard (PNG) – a single static image in which a series of graphics are structured and annotated to deliver a narrative about society told through the data. You must also provide a structured Commentary (Online Text) in which you explain what is revealed about society through your visualization, describe and justify design decisions, and reflect upon the design process and your learning. You must also submit a complete and suitably formatted list of all the References (PDF) used to inform. the work.

All three components must be submitted using the Moodle submission areas by Weds 23rd April. See the Task 2 Submission Area for the exact deadline. Submit well in advance of this.

Late work will not be marked – a mark of zero will be returned if work is not submitted on time. This individual piece of assessed coursework will account for 70% of your module mark.

The Brief

You have been given a rich data set containing information about various aspects of society in London, recorded at high spatial resolution in the 2021 UK Census of population.

You must use your skills in, and knowledge of, visualization to …

1. explore the data set – finding interesting features of society that are captured by the data in the parts of London on which you have been asked to focus;

2. communicate your findings – through excellent data graphics that use visualization to show these features effectively and an associated commentary that supplements the visuals;

3. explain your process – by documenting design decisions and your learning in light of the theory, principles and guidelines that you have studied for informing visualization design;

You should be looking to find differences, detect trends and compare places in the part of London that is your focus, in ways that characterise a range of aspects of society.

You will then need to design revealing graphics that communicate these findings effectively, describe and explain them and to reflect on the process.

This must be achieved through your use of the software we have been working with during the module – the graphics must be created in and exported from Tableau Desktop – and some structured documentation. You will be creating a dashboard in Tableau and should use your growing knowledge of graphical design and the nature of society in London to inform the work.

The Data

The data set consists of more than 70 variables recorded in the 2021 UK Census of Population.

While collected at household level, the data have been aggregated to Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA) for this analysis and visualization exercise. London has just under 5,000 LSOAs, but you have been allocated an individual focus – a personal Geographic Subset of these based on a small number of adjacent boroughs. You must focus your work solely on the LSOAs contained in your unique Geographic Subset – those in the boroughs you have been allocated. Please focus on the variation across and within the area at LSOA level – by designing effective data dense graphics that show local detail and nuance rather than high-level borough-based comparisons. Ignore the boroughs other than as a means of identifying your Geographic Subset of LSOAs.

The data are available as a Tableau Packaged Workbook (TWBX) on Moodle. You will need to    download the workbook, filter it to show the LSOAs in the boroughs that are in your Geographic Subset and use this as the basis of your visualization in Tableau. Remember that your exploration and your graphics must only involve and show LSOAs that are in your Geographic Subset

- the region that you have been allocated. Focus on the detail, the LSOAs, not the boroughs.

The Items

You will need to submit three items as described below and in the formats specified :

1.   DASHBOARD – a Single Static Image of a Dashboard created in Tableau ( PNG)

This must contain your annotated graphics in a single Tableau dashboard – these are your

Designs for Visualizing Society in London. This series of annotated static graphics must present    information established through your visual exploration in ways that show complexity with clarity.

The dashboard must be of landscape orientation and sized at exactly - 1600*900 pixels.

Create a PNG of your dashboard with _Dashboard / Export Image … / Portable Network Graphics (*.png)_ Remember that this is a static image – so it cannot rely upon any interaction or dynamic features such as tooltips, filtering, mouseover, highlighting, etc. Imagine that you will be printing it out on paper for use as a poster and design your dashboard with this constraint in mind.

2.   COMMENTARY – Description, Encodings, Decisions & Reflection (Online Text)

A short script, to be read when viewing the Tableau dashboard. The markers will read this as they view the dashboard. The script. must consist of four sections, each of no more than 250 words :

i.      your description – in which you explain what you have discovered about society in London.

It should make direct reference to the graphics and any labels and annotations that you have added to help with your visual explanation. It should comment on the important features in the graphics that support these findings. Remember that you have been asked to find differences, detect trends and compare places. Your description should address  these characteristics directly – so here is where you point them out. Imagine you are reading this commentary out to the markers as they look through the dashboard – this is  your chance to describe what you have found, the narrative that you add to the graphics;

ii.     your encodings – in which you describe the encodings and explain how they are effective. You must explicitly select one of the graphics in your dashboard and draw on the guidance given by authors such as Roth (see the Variation test) and Munzner (remember her rankings?) in your explanations. The graphic you select must be data dense and relational – showing information for all LSOAs and more than one variable while also representing more than one aspect of society. So – choose, design and explain carefully!

iii.      your decisions – in which you identify three of the Design Tests for Data Visualization – the HeurVIStics - and explain whether they have been achieved in your graphics. You must explain how if the tests are passed, and why not if they are failed. Select one or two of your graphics as examples to show that the tests can be usefully passed to help visualize  society, but also that there are circumstances when effective design involves failing them, for good reason. Your considered selections of the tests and the graphics will be key to doing well here. This is a great place to show your knowledge of the complexity of design and that you are aware of this and can still make informed and effective design decisions.

iv.     your reflection – in which you explain how you have visualized society in London.

It should outline your approach to visualization and discuss the most important principles, decisions and challenges involved in the exploration and design and how these have shaped your work and your knowledge:

What was straightforward? What was challenging? What have you learned?

Where did the theory help? Where was the theory difficult to apply?

Here is where you show your knowledge of visualization for exploration & communication. You may decide to focus on specific graphics in the dashboard and must comment on any difficulties, solutions and learning achieved. This is the place to show how your knowledge informed, and was informed by, your experience. Be sure to relate the theory that you have learned to your practical experience of visualizing society in light of your understanding of the data as it developed;

Create the text for your commentary in a word processor or text editor. Complete a thorough spelling and grammar check, then copy and paste the text into the ‘online text’ box in the Moodle submission area. Be sure to add spaces after all full stops. Use blank lines to separate paragraphs, with two blank lines separating each of the four sections. Do not use any other formatting such as  tables, indentation, bullets, emboldened text or italics – this will not be captured. Markers will use  a screen-reader to automatically read the script aloud as they consider the dashboard.

The dashboard (that we see) and the commentary (that we hear) should match up, with the commentary provided in the online text referring to annotated graphics and specific features in the dashboard. When writing the text, imagine that you are describing the dashboard to the marker in a presentation “the label on the left shows … ”, “the cluster by the river suggests … ” .

3.   PDF – References ( PDF)

A one-page document that contains full references to any work cited in the submission.

This document must be in PDF format, with a minimum font size of 10pt and must only contain  references – no additional text. Anything other than references will be ignored. Please provide full references to all cited sources using Harvard, APA or an appropriate established alternative.

The Submission

All items must be submitted via Moodle before the deadline specified in the submission area. Check the time and date on Moodle – this is definitive!

Late submissions will not be marked. A mark of zero will be returned in such cases other than   where the University’s procedures for reporting extenuating circumstances have been followed and the Board of Assessment has accepted any such circumstances. You are strongly advised to check the submission deadline on Moodle immediately and to submit your work well before it.

You may submit work well in advance of the deadline and update this subsequently with revised   submissions as you improve upon your work through reflection and redesign before the deadline. This is an effective way to develop your submission and is often regarded as good practice.

We will only see and mark the final submission. So, submit a ‘banker’ early on, then build on this.

Work is only considered ‘submitted’ if a readable digital copy has been completely uploaded through Moodle before the submission area closes, using the appropriate assignment

mechanism. Neither paper submissions nor files sent by e-mail are accepted.

All submitted work will be analysed using the Turnitin plagiarism detection service.

Where academic misconduct is deemed to have occurred a mark of zero will be returned.

Where poor academic conduct is deemed to have occurred marks will be reduced accordingly.

Submissions will not be marked if they are late or in a format other than that stated here.

Individual Work

This is an individual piece of work and you are each working on different regions of London as listed in the Geographic Subset on Moodle in the Task 2 assessment area.

You are welcome, and even encouraged, to support each other with general help in thinking about graphics, data, the reading that you complete to inform your approach and the Design Tests for Data Visualization. However, you must not share your solutions with other students.

So please discuss concepts, ideas and graphics in broad terms rather than in relation to the specific solutions that you are developing for your coursework. You each have separate data sets with separate patterns, and we expect a variety of very different solutions to be submitted.

Accusations of academic misconduct (collusion) may arise if individual solutions or submitted work are discussed or shared.

Marking

The exercise is intended to allow you to show that you have achieved the intended module learning outcomes as described in the Module Overview on the module homepage.

You should check these carefully and regularly when planning and working on this exercise.

Marks will be awarded according to the rubric provided on Moodle – look for this icon.  Be sure to check the criteria and levels of achievement expected for the different grades. This should inform you in developing your solutions and planning your work.