CDS2523 - Creative visualisation - 2017

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Art, Design and Architecture

Organisational Unit

Department of Design

Coordinator(s)

Dr Mark Guglielmetti

Not offered in 2017

Synopsis

This unit will enable students to apply advanced principles of coding, from concept to implementation, to create unique forms of data visualisations.

Visualisation is the graphic representation of data. It enables complex information structures to be expressed creatively and understood quickly. Contemporary culture has seen a massive increase in the amount of data generated by social media, web sites like Amazon and other large cultural datasets. The challenge for designers, architects and artists is to translate this data into something that communicates a complex concept efficiently and creatively challenge the visual status quo to generate incisive cultural commentary.

Through a process of practical studio exercises and workshops students will explore how data can be used to generate unique interactive visualisations. Students will be exposed to key processes of data management, including organising, cleaning and preparing data for visualisation. Students are encouraged to explore these processes to create dynamic, unique and creative interactive visualisations. In-depth studies of the contemporary leaders in art, design and architecture who use these processes to generate data visualisations will critically contextualise the social and economic significance of the field.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit, students will be able to:

  1. Examine the unique characteristics and context of data visualisation in historical and contemporary culture, and the relationship between data, information and content.
  2. Create dynamic data visualisations through the application of advanced coding principles, from concept through to implementation.
  3. Organise and plan content development prior to data visualisation using a range of data management processes.
  4. Produce design specification documentation applicable to data visualisation, integrating key terminology and data management processes.
  5. Apply advanced knowledge of the structural organisation of computer code to explore how data can be used to generate unique interactive visualisations.
  6. Understand and apply the rules of occupational health and safety appropriate to the discipline practice.

Assessment

100% mixed mode

Workload requirements

4 contact hours plus 8 hours of private study per week.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Prerequisites

CDS2521 or with permission from Unit Coordinator, OHS1000