Tues/Thurs 3:30- 4:50     209  Marshall  Hall     last revised: 12/08/06
    John Felleman  108B Marshall Hall
    felleman@esf.edu            www.esf.edu/es/felleman
______________________________________________________

Overview      Objectives      Schedule       Format/Grading
 

We can even trace a particular word for 'insight' or 'knowledge' from one culture to another all over the Indo-European world. In Sanskrit it is vidya. The word is identical to the Greek word id&eacutea, which was important in Plato's philosophy. From Latin we have the word video, but on Roman ground this simply meant to see. For us,  'I see' means I understand.  (Gaarder. Sophie's World)

OVERVIEW

  Visualization plays a critical role in:

Scientific Understanding of complex  environmental  transport and transformation processes
Planning and Design of sustainable-development futures
Decision Making between alternatives based on expected  impacts, costs, and their distributions

    Physically we evolved with vision as our primary sensory system. Not only is it the major way we obtain information, visual cognition and language socially co-evolved into our unique ability to conceptualize and communicate. Throughout human history the creation of environmental images, both pictorial and symbolic, have played a central role in our understanding (and misunderstanding) of environmental processes and our ability, (sometimes damaging), to manipulate the environment.

    Environmental professionals work in a multifaceted context of "Adaptive Management" wherein we must integrate three arenas:
    *continuous knowledge building regarding complex processes;
    *creation,  analysis and evaluation of alternative courses of action; and
    *facilitation of open, plural decision making.
In each, effective visualization is an important determinant of the ultimate environmental outcome.

    Environmental Visualization  integrates theory and methods from a number of associated fields:

    Physiology and Sensory Perception- how our visual system transforms continuously changing streams of photons to meaningful constructs.

    Scientific Visualization utilizes drawings, graphs, maps, animations and other depiction types to help analysts "see" the underlying patterns in massively complex data sets such as weather satellite transmissions, and human brain physiology.

    Planning, Design, and Impact Visualization is used to spatially model location suitability, to generate alternative proposed project configurations, and to display predicted effects ranging from future vegetative patterns to pollution releases.

    Public Participation Visualization attempts to facilitate a meaningful extended discourse between decision actors and stakeholder groups in a variety of venues and media, with graphics that incorporate the underlying science, project analyses, and values sets in formats which reflect the range of visual literacies of involved publics.

    Environmental Visualization  is the synthesis of the above fields. It's  rapidly expanding  due in large part to the explosive growth of information technologies such as desktop publishing, GIS, computer graphics and animations, and the Internet. A few professionals from environmental, design and graphics, and communications backgrounds have begun to specialize in specialize in EV. All environmental professionals will need Environmental Visual Literacy, the ability to both interpret  a spectrum of visualization approaches, and to create and effectively communicate visualizations .

OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, students will be able to:

  1. Apply basic principles of visual perception and cognition including: figure-ground,  hierarchy and  organization, 3-D depth, and color;

  2. Classify visualizations by intended audience, rhetorical objective, visualization type, and level of abstraction;

  3. Develop project-based communication objectives, and schematically design preliminary visualizations which are appropriate for the selected audience and medium.

FORMAT/GRADING

Classes:
    3 credits of lecture, discussion, and in-class work activities per week. Some classes will be held in a computer cluster.

Resources
    The course "text" is a required reader. Each unit will be accompanied by  readings, handouts, course  web pages, and external Internet resources.  The primary resources will be existing visuals from a host of print and digital locations.

Materials-
Some of the classes and assignments will require materials. These will be identified in advance.  A typical list includes:

pens
pencils hard and soft, red and blue pencils, and colored markers
engineer's plastic traingular scale
45 and 30/60 triangles
grid paper
tracing paper
computer CD disk

Grading:
  
    20    illustarted glossary 1
    20    illustarted glossary 2
    30    homework
    30    project

    ENS 696: Grad students will develop an individualized paper or project which complements their area of study. This will represent 30% of the course grade.

DRAFT Schedule
 
 

Class	Date	Topic	Readings;  Terms and Figures;  Assignments
		I. Foundations
1	T   8/ 29	Introduction	Terms    Exercise
2	Th   8/31	Elements, Objects, Backdrop, Context	Horton 27-53  Terms  Figures  HWK #1
3	T    9/5	Depth Cues	Web Resources   Exercise  Terms
4	Th    9/7	Figure/Ground	HWK #2  Web Resources  Terms
5	T      9/12	Intro to Computer Drawing	Microsoft Press    Terms
6	Th    9/14	Computer Lab- Baker 143  MS Office/Draw	Microsoft Press    Exercise
7	T    9/19	1 and 2 Point Perspective	Hanks; Draw 3D  Web Resources    Terms  Exercise
	Th 9/21	NO CLASS
8	T    9/26	Color	Horton p.35,36,40,46  Web Readings  Terms
		II. Functional Classes
9	Th    9/28	Classification System	Terms/Concepts     WEB
10	T   10/3	Drawings:      3-D Paraline;  2-D Orthographic * Semester Project Topic Due	Ching; Sorby; Beakley  Terms  Exercise
11	Th  10/5	Cross Section;  Profile	handouts  Terms   Exercise
12	T   10/10	Block Diagram; Cut-Away; Explosion	handouts  Terms
13	Th  10/12	Maps:      Overview; Spatial Scales *Prelim. Glossaries Due	ASCE ; Handouts  Terms  Web Resources
14	T    10/17	Thematic (Choropleth); Measurement Scales    *Project: Messages due	Handouts  Terms    Exercise  Web Resources
15	Th  10/19	ArcView Lab -  Baker 143	Handout  Exercise  Terms
	T 10/24	NO CLASS
16	Th  10/26	Contour * Portfolio 1 Due, including:	Handouts  Terms  Web Resources  Exercise
17	T  10/31	Countours in Excel     Baker 143 (until 4:30)	Handouts  Exercise
18	Th    11/2	Tables and Graphs:          Overview	handouts  Web  Terms
19	T   11/7	ArcView 3D Lab- Baker 149	handouts   Terms   Exercise
20	Th   11/9	Student Project- Roundtable   Project: Visual Type Examples Due    Handout Hwk #3
21	T   11/14	Excel Lab- Baker 149	handouts
22	Th 11/16	Flow Charts    Hwk #3 Prelim. Submission	Handouts   Terms   Exercise
		III. Planning and Production
23	T 11/21	Text and Graphics: Concepts, Layout	McCloud; Horn; Desktop Pub.; Sci  Am    Terms
24	T   11/28	Temporal Change/Animation; StoryBoards   Handout Hwk #4	Web Resources   Terms
25	Th  11/30	PowerPoint  Lab- Baker 156	Handouts  Exercise
26	T    12/5	Photoshop lab -   156 Baker
27	T   12/2	Copyright	handout  Web Resources    Terms
	Th 12/14 12 Noon	Portfolio II  Due -Room 108B Marshall

        B. Also visit : http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/art/cues.html     and look at depth cues in art

        C. Shadows and Shading are a simple and powerful means of conveying Depth in a Visual. There is a good (free)  On Line Art School at: http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Toolbox/LearningHowToDraw/freehand1/index.html
Using your course materials(if you don't have a soft 4B pencil try your 2B), do the exercises in:  Free Hand Shading. Then read the next lesson: Free Hand Shadows and Texture

    At the "Color Matters" site, review basic Color Theory:
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html

    Take the "Color Blind Self-Test":
http://www.visibone.com/colorblind/

    An excellent On-Line Intro to Maps and map design can be found at:
http://www.Colorado.EDU/geography/gcraft/notes/cartocom/cartocom_f.html

    Visit the Geography Network to explore the exploding world of on-line digital spatial data:  http://www.geographynetwork.com

    Many environmental pollution studies generate contours from sophisticated computer "process models.
    Examine  Noise Pollution http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/o_noise_2000contour_pres1.shtm