FIT3179 Data Visualisation
DATA VISUALISATION 2
Semester 2, 2022, version 1.1
Version history:
● 1.0 (5 September 2022): Initial release
● 1.1 (12 September 2022): Added requirement regarding download size
Submission
Due date: Monday of week 12, 17 October, 23:55. Submit a report in PDF format through a
Turnitin link on Moodle. The cover page of the report must contain a URL to a public GitHub
repository with a web page containing the visualisation.
Marking and Interview Hurdle
This assignment is worth 25% of the final unit mark. A detailed marking rubric is included at the
end of this document. A late penalty of 10% per day and a one-week cut off apply. Students are
required to pass an interview hurdle during the studio in week 12. Students who fail the interview
hurdle will get 0 marks for the Data Visualisation 2 assignment.
Introduction
Very similar to the Data Visualisation 1 assignment, you design and build an effective data
visualisation for a specific domain. The major difference is that you will use the Vega-Lite
visualisation library to create maps and diagrams.
The aim of the assignment is to apply the data visualisation techniques examined during the
entire semester and demonstrate their use in an innovative context.
Requirements
The following requirements apply specifically for this Data Visualisation 2 assignment:
● The selected domain is clearly different from the domain of your Data Visualisation 1
visualisation.
● You use the Vega-Lite library for creating maps and diagrams. You may use other libraries
for creating diagrams that are not possible with Vega-Lite, however, you must get
approval from your tutor before using other libraries.
● The final result consists of a publicly accessible web page that is hosted on your own
GitHub account. The JSON description of each Vega-Lite diagram or map must be easily
accessible in the same GitHub repository and must be in a human-readable format. You
may use the Pure.css library or any other JavaScript/CSS/HTML library or authoring
software to create your web page.
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● Your Vega-Lite visualisation must load reasonably fast. This implies that data files to
download cannot be large. Aim at a total downloadable size of less than 1 megabyte. If
this limit is too low for your visualisation (for example, if you include video files or large
zoomable raster images), then a discussion with your tutor is required before submission.
● Your web page includes at least one geographic map. If including a map does not make
sense for your domain, your tutor can give an exemption for this requirement.
The following requirements from the Data Visualisation 1 assignment also apply for this
assignment:
● Why? It should address a particular need within a specific domain of your choosing. It
must be targeted to the domain, its needs, and its users. This does not mean the
visualisation has to solve an existing problem, but it must be a visualisation that is useful
or relevant to people with an interest in the chosen domain.
● What? It should use a data source relevant to the domain. Data can be of any kind.
● Who? Design your visualisation for the average Australian or Malaysian.
● The visualisation must turn data into something meaningful and provide insight that
would otherwise be difficult to obtain without the visualisation.
● It must provide interactive exploration.
● It needs to show some innovation. It does not have to be wholly original but cannot be a
replica of a visualisation that already exists. It could be an innovative visualisation idiom,
or an innovative exploration of an interesting dataset.
● It must demonstrate the use of the Five Design Sheet methodology for sketching and
planning the design of your visualisation.
● It must demonstrate the use of the Munzer What/Why/How framework discussed in
lectures for correctly assessing the type of data, the goals of the visualisation and the
design of the visualisation.
● It must apply design principles discussed throughout the unit, such as data-ink ratio,
storytelling, layout, typography and visualisation idioms with appropriate use of marks
and channels.
Task Description and Schedule
1. By the end of Week 8:
a. Choose a domain that you would like to explore.
b. Find relevant datasets that are publicly available.
c. Discuss your domain, design ideas, and datasets with your tutor.
d. Design your visualisation using the 5 Design Sheet Methodology.
2. Visualisation: Weeks 9 to 11:
a. The homework of Weeks 9 and 10 consist of creating a map and a diagram with
Vega-Lite. You can include improved versions of the map and the diagram that
you create for these homework assignments in this Data Visualisation 2
assignment. Important: Monash University policy does not allow submitting the
same work for two assessments. Therefore, you need to clearly improve your
homework map and diagram if you include them in this Data Visualisation 2
assignment.
b. Create a web page and embed your Vega-Lite diagrams and maps. Use CSS to
style typography and design the layout of your web page. Make your visualisation
publicly viewable as a GitHub page.
3. Write a concise report with a maximum length of 1000 words (excluding the cover sheet
and the bibliographic list) covering the following (note the following requirements are
identical to those for Data Visualisation 1):
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a) A title page including the number of words and a URL of your visualisation.
b) A brief description of the domain, Why and Who.
c) What: A brief description of the data (sources, authors, relevance, creation process,
etc.).
d) Why and How: Give a rationale for choosing the specific idioms and explain how they
help the users to achieve their tasks. Include at least one screen capture of your
entire visualisation, and a description of features that are special to your
visualisation.
e) Design: Briefly explain the rationale for your choices of
o Layout: How did you structure the layout in columns and rows?
o Colour: What are the reasons for selecting the specific colours of your
visualisation, and how did you consistently apply the colours to charts, text,
and figures?
o Figure-ground: How did you vary graphical elements to create a visual
hierarchy?
o Typography: What are the reasons for selecting the specific typeface(s) and
text layout?
o Storytelling: How is the reader guided through the visualisation by using
annotations and other means.
f) Bibliography/list of references.
g) Appendix with scans or photos of the 5 Design Sheet Methodology outcome.
Expectations
Note the following is a verbatim copy from the Data Visualisation 1 assignment, except for the
first paragraph about maps.
Maps: The visualisation includes at least one map that uses an appropriate map projection and
shows data with an appropriate idiom.
Format: The entire visualisation must be accessible through a single URL. The entire visualisation
must be visible on a single web page that can be scrolled. There should be no buttons (or other
web links) that swap the major section of the web page, but you can use buttons to show and
hide individual page elements.
Presentation not exploration: The goal of this assignment is to create a visualisation that
communicates interesting information in an easily accessible and graphically engaging way using
storytelling elements, layout principles, typography, and graphical design. The goal is not to create
an expert tool for exploring and analysing a dataset.
Quality not quantity: Your visualisation will likely contain between 3 and 10 charts or diagrams
that you create. However, there are no minimum or maximum numbers of charts. Instead, we are
looking for carefully designed and annotated charts that – in combination with text and possibly
icons and pictures – guide the user through an interesting story. Avoid pixelated or
non-informative graphical elements. Complement your visualisation with concise, informative and
grammatically correct text.
Interactivity: Integrate interactivity where it makes sense, but do not just add interactive
elements for their own sake.
Copyright: You are encouraged to use icons and other simple graphical elements where
appropriate. When using such elements, it is your responsibility to ensure you have the right to
use them. Consult with your tutor if in doubt. You need to indicate the source and URL (if
available online) in your report of any external element that you use, such as datasets, photos
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and sources of other information. There is no need to indicate the source and URL for simple
icons (emojis, coats of arms, trademark icons, etc.).
Authorship: Because your visualisation is publicly accessible, you should indicate your authorship
and the license under which you make your work accessible.
Plagiarism: We will follow up on any kind of academic misconduct. For this assignment, you
cannot integrate non-trivial graphics (such as diagrams, charts, information graphics, etc.) created
by others.
Report content: The report must not include an introduction to the visualisation topic or extra
information about the topic. The visualisation itself needs to tell the entire story. There is no need
to include a table of contents or a conclusion in the report.
References in report: Your report should include properly formatted references to the datasets,
sources of information that you used to create your visualisation, possibly similar visualisation in
the same domain, and photos, schemas, etc.) that you include in your visualisation. Your text
needs to include in-text citations, and your report needs to contain a bibliographic list. The
referencing style in this course is APA 6th [link], which is the recommended style for
undergraduate students in the Faculty of Information Technology. Note that every in-text
reference needs to be listed in the bibliographic list, and every entry in the bibliographic list needs
to be referenced in the text.
Figures in report: Figures need to be numbered and referenced in the text with the figure
number. Every figure needs to have a caption.
Marking Rubric
The mark will be an automatic 0 if one of the following conditions is met:
● The student does not pass the interview assessment in Week 12.
● The domain of Visualisation 2 is not clearly different from the domain of
Visualisation 1.
● The web page or any Vega-Lite elements are not accessible on a public GitHub
repository.
Note: Only maps and diagrams created with Vega-Lite will be marked (unless the tutor approved
an exception). If the map of homework Week 9 and the diagram of Week 10 are included in this
assignment, they will only be marked if they are substantially improved. If no map is included, the
maximum mark for “Visualisation – Idioms and Complexity” is 5% instead of 10% (unless the tutor
approved an exception). If the report does not include a working URL to your visualisation the
Visualisation a, b and c (see rubric) are marked with 0. A detailed marking rubric is on the next
page.