Approach
This week I showed my progress on my data visualization in class and finally got my website up and running. With Maria’s comments on the disparities between data (such as students who say they do not use writing but rate their skill level as high) and my desire to tell a story with the data being shown, I still have more to play around with. Although charts and graphs may be aided with text, I need to figure out how to weave the data together visually as well to draw out the important aspects of my study. In the meantime, I am playing around with the website capabilities and creating a storyline for the data viz.
Choices Made
First off, I got my website up and running and completed a lot of initial formatting and navigation for that:
In addition to some of the graphics developed last week, I examined different plugins on my WordPress-powered site once it was up and running. Because I needed something a little sophisticated for organizing the image data I compiled, I looked at free portfolio gallery filters and weighed the pros and cons of each.
Some did not allow many categories….
While others just seemed unintuitive or underdeveloped for set up…..
I ultimately decided to pay for premium plugin (only $25) to get all the features I wanted and then added in the categories and images.
The categories are still very much a work in progress but I hope for them to be more or less fleshed out by the end of the semester and can update the site as needed. With my Second Year Review yesterday, I presented a PowerPoint yesterday that I hope to use to streamline these categories and explain a bit more in my work for this course: Second Year Review Presentation.
As I’m working through how to fully present this material and inform the nature of the graphics, I also wrote this “script/outline” to guide my decision making:
With the intent of this website to showcase a snapshot of my research and its major findings, the following will need to be communicated in both words and visuals:
The research question and background
- use text to introduce main ideas, but also possibly some referenced images graphics
- structural frameworks (displays/introduction of visual literacies for entire page)
The participants and site
- images of the site
- incorporation of questionnaires data
The methodology
- infographic? – possibly one that can tie all of this together
- perhaps introduce artifact, interview, and observation data here
The findings
- sort out artifact interview, and observation data
- continuation of infographic approach?
The conclusions
- most likely written summary
Current Questions/Needs Raised
While the capabilities for displaying information are vast and powerful, playing around with them has made me realize I need to take a step back and map out the overarching storyline and argument for this consolidated version of my thesis.
Likely Next Steps
- Website layout and navigation – home page on Ethnography of Writing in Student Design Processes to navigate to: participants and study site, categories of writing, and artifacts/evidence
- Artifacts
- organize, format, and touch up the last of the photos for importing (some are a bit sloppy or hard to read, scans could be cleaned up)
- use a portfolio filter/organizer
- iterate on how to display student demographic data
- iterate on categorization ideas (I like embedded bubbles like in AppInventory and the astrology-like wheel in InfoViz SciFi)
- fold in text