The split of the readings into two related groups is below, it is up to the two students to determine which person does which half.
You should prepare slides to accompany your talk. You may use the software platform of your choice to present these slides, as long as it's also possible to provide a cross-platform readable version of your talk for the course web site: for instance, HTML+images, or PDF. PowerPoint is fine, it can generate a web page of HTML+images. You should send me the URL for your slides by Monday night at 10pm on the day of your presentation. Change as of 1/27: you do not need to generate the web page from your PowerPoint, it's easier to do that on my machine. (see Delivery).
If you use images, or whole slides, made by other people, you must credit the source (please do this on each slide, as needed). If you do not bring a laptop yourself, you may use my laptop to present. In this case, you must get me the slides by 10am on Monday (see Delivery). If both students are using the laptop, they must agree on what operating system they will use: Linux or Windows.
For advice on giving technical talks, see
In the first several weeks of the course, I will include at the end of the main lecture a section going into detail on one or two software packages and toolkits that you might use to build your final project. Some of these packages are now listed in the Software Resources page, a list that will gradually expand over the first five weeks of the course as I present the packages in class.
You're submitting a proposal, not a specification - it's natural that your plans will change somewhat as you refine your ideas. But your proposal should be based on an idea that we've discussed and I've approved. When you come talk to me about your proposal, I'll give you some pointers to background reading in the area of your interest.
I advise that you start by thinking about what you want your software to do, and only then think about how you would implement it (languages, platforms, etc). The key is to find some domain and task that both interests you and presents an opportunity for infovis. That is, there is some task where a human needs to understand the structure of a large dataset. You're definitely welcome to link the infovis project to another class or research project. You may also build on existing software, but your project should include some implementation work of your own.
I do not advise that you start by deciding on a language, and then look around for some task that you might be able to do in that language - that's backwards, and is likely to stifle your creativity
Proposal format: your writeup should be a page or two and include:
If you have expertise in that area, briefly describe it: anywhere from "this ties in with a project I'm doing for another course, I've just started doing reading in the area" to "I've been working on this for a year through an RAship" to "I've just been somewhat interested in this area for years, so I read about it occasionally". Or, of course, to "I don't know the area at all, but this seems like an interesting problem."
One proposal per project (whether it is individual or team) is due on February 13th. Your proposal should be in the form of a web page, with both text and images. See Delivery for how to submit your proposal by sending me email with a URL.
In contrast, your final report should be a standalone document that fully describes your project. Do not assume the reader has seen your original proposal.
Demos: sign up via email for demo slot on Wed 4/30. 30 minutes. 10am-6pm
I will then upload your work to the course web site, so that it is archivally available.