ITCS 5121/4121 Information Visualization (Spring 2021)

Instructor for Spring 2021: Prof. Zachary Wartell

Other semesters: Prof. Jing Yang, Prof. Zachary Wartell

overview

Information Visualization is a discipline of computer science that develops interactive applications for exploring data. Whereas scientific visualization visualizes data with inherent 3D geometric structure, information visualization typically visualizes more abstract data sets stored as tables, networks, hierarchies, or text.  This course covers information visualization concepts, theories, design principles, popular techniques, evaluation methods, and information visualization applications.

Prerequisites:

ITCS 4121 and 5121 are cross-listed

• ITCS 4121 – Prerequisite(s):  ITSC 1213 or permission of instructor     – (Catalog Entry)
• ITCS 5121 – Restriction(s):    CCI graduate standing or permission of instructor (Catalog Entry)
  • By University Policy, ITCS 5121 section students will have additional assignment and/or expectations.
  • ITCS 5121 students are expected to have a technical background similar to the CS MS Program Admission Requirements, hence the course restriction of “CCI graduate standing or permission of instructor”.   
    Interested students without CCI graduate standing should contact the instructor to discuss their computing background.
     

Syllabus:    The official syllabus will be made available the first week of the semester.

textbook

Textbooks requirements may vary with instructor.

Spring 2021 – Prof. Wartell:    Information Visualization: Perception for Design (Interactive Technologies) 4th Edition, Colin Ware.

tools

The programming languages and tools may vary with instructor.

Spring 2021 – Prof. Wartell:

• General Tools:
  • Git
    • Example tutorial – https://zwartell.gitlab.io/Git_Tutorial_and_Coding_Standards/Git%20Tutorial.html
  • Programming Languages:
    • Primary:   Javascript
      • Example tutorial – https://zwartell.gitlab.io/javascript-tutorial/
    • Secondary:   HTML5, CSS, some SVG
• Visualization Specific Tools:
  • Visualization Toolkit:
    • D3

assignments

The assignments may vary with instructor.

Spring 2021 – Prof. Wartell:

• Students develop several individual programming projects plus a larger, group programming project.
• Students are also evaluated on reading and lecture material.
• One or more graded tutorials covering the General Tools (listed above) may be assigned early in the semester.   Students with sufficient, documented prior experience will be allowed to opt. out of some of the tutorials.

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