Jessica Dixon

Kim Henze

Strengths

Overall, I was very impressed with the visualization for a number of reasons. To begin with, Kim faced several restrictions that the other projects in the class did not including space, color, and format (print instead of online). Because of the audience, aesthetics took on heightened importance as well. Meeting these requirements had to be a challenge, and, for the most part, Kim's visualization met that challenge. This is probably due, at least in part, to her detailed analysis of CUT-DDV which provided the framework to meet the specific requirements placed upon her overall visualization. The "Applicability by Session" graph is an excellent example of addressing space, aesthetics, and format. Pulling the two smaller breakdown graphs from the larger graph deals with the space and format restraints. Placing them beside the larger graph saves space and represents the connection between the smaller graphs and the larger one in a static environment that results in the print equivalent of clicking for more details in an interactive, online visualization.

Weaknesses

The particular graphic which could use the most work, in my opinion, is the 100 people/94% portion at the top of the left column. As Kim stated in her presentation, she needed something long and relatively flat to fill this space, so the people make sense. They also convey her argument that participants found the sessions successful. That being said, the 100 relatively small people might be a bit misleading as well as hard to see if you are just walking by the poster. As per Dr. H's suggestion, one row of 10 larger people with either the last person not colored in at all or about halfway colored in. This would achieve the same effect as the 100 people but would not imply that 100 people participated in the survey.

Matching the colors of the sessions at the top of the middle column to the colors in the session graph would likely connect those two pieces nicely. But, as mentioned previously, color restrictions were in place. The same applies to the handouts - having some of the graphs on them would have been nice, but, as they were black and white, the graphs would have been more difficult to interpret.

Stephanie Doctor

Strengths

Although the Distribution of Contribution Sizes small multiples did not turn out exactly as Stephanie planned, I am glad they were included in the final presentation because they provide interesting information that is not as hampered by the fact that the data does not include PACs/Super PACs. For instance, we can clearly see in Sanders’ graph that he does indeed receive lots of smaller donations.

The use of stacked bar charts throughout was a smart, clean way to show us the total amount as well was the breakdown of that total in a single graph. Sticking with the color scheme that American voters know, understand, and, perhaps most importantly, expect is great. It means that, so long as Americans are using these visualizations, there is no need for a color legend explaining the connection between party and color. It also lets users see the colors and the candidate names and immediately know these visualizations are political in nature, which could be important when it comes to grabbing someone’s attention.

Weaknesses

As Stephanie points out herself, the information is not a complete representation of the financial side of the presidential campaign, because it does not include PACs. Another flaw, again pointed out by Stephanie, is that the data stops in January. More could be gleaned from more recent figures, especially the figures leading up to the primaries.

The eventual decision to gray out those who have dropped out of the race brings up an interesting aspect that the visualizations, in their current form, do not include - time. It could be useful to view the numbers for particular candidates from the start of their campaign until either today or the day they dropped out of the race. Time could be a great component for spotting trend. Even though the time component does not exist now, I would not have thought about it myself if Stephanie had not made the decision to gray out the debunk candidates.

I have neither given nor received aid while working on this assignment. I have completed the graded portion BEFORE looking at anyone else's work on this assignment. Signed, Jessica D. Dixon.