MAS 963 Crowds project
The assignment for this week is to propose (and sketch) an interface for perceiving a virtual crowd. The goal of the visualization is to help the viewer get a sense of the social structure of the crowd.
Visual Who, for example, visualizes affinities and to some extent, roles (student, teacher, etc.) . You may choose to use these parameters, or pick others: seniority in the system, volubility in a chat, popularity, hair color, etc. You may use characteristics that might in reality be difficult to deduce from the online data, but do include a paragraph describing an approach to how it might be derived.
Your visualization can be derived from any of the approaches we've studied in the last couple of weeks but does not have to be. Think about how to make it look like a social visualization - how do you use color, forms, motion, etc. to go beyond the purely statistical.
You should write a brief outine of your interface, stating what it is designed to show and why that is a useful thing: Can your visualization function as or contribute to a social environment? Can it be a solution to Whyte's "triangulation" issue - the need for a focus of interest? Does it allow for some version of "people watching"?
You should create a set of sketches of your proposed interface, showing what it would look like under various conditions. The proposed interface should be interactve and your sketches should show how the viewer interacts with it.
If you can get the assignment in by Tuesday afternoon please do. Because I was unable to get this to you on time I do understand if your work is late. But please do have it online by Wednesday evening at the latest so that I can see your work before class. And, submit the URL of your critiques online.