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Multimedia and Visualization for Decision Makers 92.6962

Syllabus

Fall 1997

Overview | Software and Text | Requirements | Schedule |

Overview

This course has three major content areas and goals:

Area 1: Multimedia design and uses of multimedia
Goal 1: Course participants will be able to plan and develop a multimedia project and to be aware of the ways in which multimedia is being used in business and industry.

Area 2: Visualization for presentation and problem solving
Goal 2: Course participants will be able to communicate effectively with images and will be aware of the variety of ways in which visualization is used for problem solving

Area 3: Using Macromedia DIRECTOR, Mathworks MATLAB, and Adobe PHOTOSHOP
Goal 3: Course participants will be fluent in the basics of a multimedia authoring package and will have basic working knowledge of graphics and scientific visualization software.

Web site
There is a web site for the course. The address is http://www.rpi.edu/locker/49/000849/website/home.html.

Newsgroup
There is a newsgroup for the course. Its name is rpi.courses.Fall97.Multivis.

Software and Texts
DIRECTOR 6. This software is installed in the Sage 4510 Pentium lab and the Sage Mac Lab. The academic edition of Director 5 can be ordered through either the computer store (VCC basement) or the Union Bookstore and costs $99. The academic edition is identical to the commercial edition, except that it is limited to 24 channels, 500 frames, and 100 cast members. Director 5 and Director 6 are similar enough that you can use version 5 at home.

Lingo Workshop for Windows, John Thompson and Sam Gottlieb, Hayden Books, $45. The is the best book around for learning Lingo, DIRECTOR'S scripting language. It comes with a CD-ROM that contains Director movies for each chapter that illustrate the Lingo commands covered in that chapter. REQUIRED

Creating Shockwave Web Pages, Perry Board, Rick Luna, and Derek O'Dell, $35. You will use this Que guide to Shockwave as a reference for creating your third project, a Shockwave web page. Although only two chapters are assigned for labs, you will find the whole book a valuable resource. REQUIRED

Interactivity By Design, Ray Kristof and Amy Satran, $40. This book provides a comprehensive framework for the process of multimedia design. A large portion of the material in this book will be covered in class. RECOMMENDED

Requirements
Requirements for the course are four projects, a storyboard assignment, and an exam.

Project 1: Interactive Resume -- 10%
Project 2: Marketing -- 15%
Project 3: Shockwave -- 15%
Project 4: Problem solving/decision making -- 25%
Storyboard for Project 4 -- 10%
Exam -- 25%

The project due dates are listed on the schedule -- if you don't think you can make a due date, you must contact me about an extension or lose 10% for each day late. For each project, you should turn in a DIRECTOR program and any necessary supporting files. You may work in groups for projects 2, 3, and 4. For group projects, turn in a brief (under one page) writeup that contains 1) the details of each group member's contribution to the project, 2) the names of all of your files and 3) where the files are located (diskette, ZIP cartridge, or the ftp directory). The projects will be presented in class.

Each project will be graded on:

1/3 -- Effective use of visualization This refers to how well you have incorporated the class material on visualization into your project.

1/3 -- Technical execution This refers to how well you use the capabilities of the software.

1/3 -- Multimedia design This refers to whether you fulfilled the assignment and made good use of multimedia's capabilities for information design, interaction design, and so on. Creativity is a factor here.

Grades will also be influenced by how much effort you put into the project and how many people worked on it (i.e., a three-person project should be larger and more complex than a one-person project. For projects 2, 3, and 4, you may work in groups of up to four people.

Ideas are cheap. Your projects should work -- that is, they should run without crashing, and all of the links should work. Please do not turn in projects with half-finished links or buttons that don't do what they should -- you will lose points on technical execution. An important part of project planning is making good choices about the scope of the project. A good rule of thumb is to double the amount of time and effort that you think a given project will take.

Labs and Exam

Lab assignments are given for each class (see schedule). By doing the labs, you will learn to use the course software. Doing the labs thoroughly will help you complete the projects more easily and will insure a good grade on the exam, which is based on the labs. The exam will be computer-based, and you will submit a diskette -- be sure to keep a backup copy.

Academic Honesty

You may share general tips and techniques with each other; however, you may not copy significant portions of each others' movies. There are so many different ways to design and execute Director projects that it is easy to spot outright copying. If you have a question about whether it is OK to use something, ask me.

Project Submission

Projects may be submitted by diskette, ZIP cartridge, or FTP. Place all of your project files in a folder with your name on it, and place the folder on a diskette, on a ZIP cartridge, or on the ftp site. Each project will have its own directory on the ftp site; i.e., resume, marketing, shockwave, and probsolve. To submit projects by ftp, ftp to dses.rpi.edu and log in with your RCS userid and password. Change to the directory /ext/disk2/mvdm/projects/[projectname]. Make sure that the file transfer type is set to binary, and transfer your project folder. ALWAYS KEEP BACKUP COPIES OF YOUR SUBMITTED PROJECTS!

Any diskettes or ZIP cartridges that are submitted will be returned.

Schedule and Topics

LW = Lingo Workshop, SW = Creating Shockwave Web Pages

Additional References

PHOTOSHOP

Bouton, G. D. (1997). Inside Adobe Photoshop 4. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

MATLAB

Etter, D. M. (1997). Engineering Problem Solving with MATLAB. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Mathworks, T. (1997). The Student Edition of MATLAB User's Guide. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Nakamura, S. (1996). Numerical Analysis and Graphic Visualization with MATLAB. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

DIRECTOR

Rabinowitz, N., & Magee, S. (1996). Shockwave Power Solutions. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

Grace, R. (1998). Lingo Handbook, The. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Heushotz, N. (1998). Using Director 6 and Lingo for Multimedia Internet Applications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Multimedia and Visual Design

Grosky, W. I., Jain, R., & Mehrotra, R. (1997). Handbook of Multimedia Information Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Martinez, B., & Block, J. (1995). Visual Forces. , Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Weinman, L. (1996a). Deconstructing Web Graphics. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

Weinman, L. (1996b). Designing Web Graphics.2. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.

Data Visualization and Analysis

Cleveland, W. S. (1994). The Elements of Graphing Data. Summit, NJ: Hobart Press.

Cleveland, W. (1993). Visualizing Data. Murray Hill, NJ: AT&T Bell Labs.

Mosteller, F., & Tukey, J. W. (1977). Data Analysis and Regression: A Second Course in Statistics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

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