The transportation visualization is finally done. Everything has been checked and double-checked, so the visualization should ready to go. Last night, I went over every single bar/pyramid, and fixed every minor inconsistency found in the text output system, so every bar/pyramid should display the correct percentage now. Also, I made sure that everything percentage is visible from the elevator area without moving around.
Today, I added a couple bells-and-whistles for the final touch: 1) As per Dr. Polack’s suggestion, I added one invisble overhead light for the room. It does make things a bit brighter, but the colors become too washed out and bright if I use anymore. 2) I added an automatic door to the entrance of the room. Basically, the main reason I added it was so the room became it’s own separate entity while the test was being done (also it just feels more natural to have a door). The fun and exciting thing is that I made it so that it greets you/says goodbye depending on which way you come from!
One thing that might be noticeable is that I didn’t add a second mid-level functionality for the elevator. After coding half of it and playing around with it, I realized that it just won’t work for many, many reasons: 1) The elevator itself blocks the view of the bars (even when mostly clear), and if it’s moved back it becomes too far away. 2) The mid-level actually hides and skews the differences between the heights. 3) It makes the visualization a bit too complex, and in a Tufte manner of thinking, it seems to shift too much focus away from the data and onto working the visualization. 4) It wouldn’t be used much/at all, since the point of this 3d visualization is to walk around and feel the data.
Basically, for the transportation side of things, all that needs to be done is create the questions/instruction sheet and then start the testing. Here’s my general outline for the test: There should be two sections: 1) Data hidden (for data retention), 2) Data present (data ease of use). Data hidden should probably go first (that way we can capture the first reactions to both), so I think the test would first be reading the instructions/getting acquainted with Second Life/website, and then being told to “play around” and look at all the data for 2 minutes. Then the monitor would be turned off and the first test given. After that, the monitor is turned back on, and the second test is given with the data available for use.
The questions for each test should have two sections, being: 1) Understanding, 2) Interpretation. There should only be a few understanding, which will be multiple choice questions like “What is the percentage of people who drive in a car alone in the Middle Atlantic?” a. 57.2%, b. 10%,…, “Which of the following regions has the highest comparative percentage for Car Pooling?”a. Middle Atlantic, b. Pacific, …. The interpretation questions should be more interesting/harder, such as “Which region seems to utilize the least amount of Car Pooling/Public Transportation?” a. New England, b. Mountain, “Estimating, where do you think the largest number of people use a Motorcycle/Other means of transportation in…” a. East North Central, b. Middle Atlantic, New England, …”.
Hopefully we’ll be able to progress soon.
