Symposium Project Specification

The symposium project for cs 391 will be centered around visualizing a data set of your choosing. There will be 4 parts to this project.

• A visualization.
• A 2-3 page paper.
• A 10 minute presentation.
• Peer evaluations of papers and presentations.

Visualization

Your visualization should be a model of some system, a rendering of some dataset or perhaps a suite of smaller programs designed to demonstrate some visualization technique, or perhaps something entirely different.

The project may be done using VRML, vtk or some other visualization scheme (e.g. Mathematica, Java3D or opengl). There are many datasets that are included on the vtk CD or you can use one from another source. Your project should include some form of user interaction as well as annotation.

This is a significant undertaking. If you have any questions about whether your topic, you should meet with me.

You should include a brief file called INSTRUCTIONS describing how to execute your visualization. This is particularly important since your classmates may need to run your program.

You may build a walk through of a physical scene within the following constraints:

• The scene must be interactive.
• The scene must be dynamic (i.e. have moving parts). It does not need to be built on-the-fly.
• Like any other project, the scene must be annotated (labels, legends)

Paper

You will write a 2 to 3 page paper describing your visualization. The paper should include: a short abstract, background information about the dataset, model or technique, and an explanation of your visualization method.

There are two submission dates for the paper. The initial submission should be a final-quality version of the paper. However, your peers (and I) will review it and give you feedback. You may then make changes based on these reviews for the second submission.

The paper should be formatted as shown here (Word Document). If you would like to use a file type other than MS Word, please talk to me about it first.

Presentation

You will give a 10 to 15 minute presentation to the class explaining and demonstrating your visualization with time afterward for questions. Your presentation day and order will be determined based on the subject matter or your project. Your presentation should be done using PowerPoint. You will have access to all of the presentation equiptment currently in the lab. Your presentation need to be available to me before class on the day you present, so I can put it on my computer. You may run your visualization during the presentation, but you do not have to.

Peer Evaluation

You will be given evaluation forms to fill out for three of your classmates. You will evaluate every aspect of their project: the visualization, the paper and the presentation. Evaluation forms will be made available toward the due date.

Grade distribution

Groups

If you choose, you may work in pairs. Pairs projects are expected to be larger in scope and difficulty. The length requirements for the sections will double. The paper will be 4 to 6 pages and the presentation will be 20 to 30 minutes.

Deadlines