Data Visualization as a discipline bestows us with venues and techniques to create interactive and dynamic displays of complex information. With proper execution, it positively impacts people's everyday life. It does so as it gives us insight into the hidden; and unravels complicated relationships into graspable visuals. As interaction designers, it is our duty to make the truth of the data become evident to the user. As artists, it is our prerogative to create an intentional emotional connection with your audience. As scientists it is our goal to serve in the better understanding of all phenomena around us. GOAL This year, our challenge is to tackle the visualization of the water reservoirs in underground repositories throughout the greater San Joaquin Valley. Water is being pumped out at a faster rate than it can be replenished. Warnings of forthcoming crises have been raised by many scientists and activists. But the impact can be seen already on the many communities throughout the San Joaquin Valley that have become ignored and pushed to the side by agroindustry's largely economical interests. We have the opportunity to clinically and objectively present current measurements of the water repositories, while further contextualizing all available information in terms of historical, cultural, and societal measurable impact. We can improve how researchers understand and analyze the current ecosystem, and aid in any forward thinking speculation and hypothesis creation on how the balance and movement of water will affect the local community, the agroindustry, and the country as a whole. We can also make it possible for policy makers to easily understand the current situation, and aid in more efficient discourse of policies, and guide them on how to act to help affected communities. Or we can even find ways of connecting directly with those affected, empower them with clear understanding of what is happening, give them access to resources than can help them cope with day to day survival, and embolden them connect with others in the same situation, with activists, with politicians, and with support organizations to create a common voice and empower meaningful action. In this class, we will embrace the interdisciplinary approaches needed to address any or all of these problems, leveraging design thinking and the latest methods from computing, User-Centered Design, interaction design, 3D graphics, and all forms of artistic discourse to positively impact those affected or with stakes in the groundwater reservoirs - all emboldened with truth and factual understanding via data visualization.
Requisites
Must be 5th Term or above