Final Exam

Topics

Teams

The Assignment

Each team of 3 will choose one of the general topics to address. Websites are provided with content and data to address each topic. You are to produce a web site of at least 2 pages that includes at least

and addresses the topic given. You do not need to use two sets of data, though you may. You do not need to do any additional analysis of the data. The web site should give background information and explain the data that you choose to present.

You may freely use text from sites as long as you appropriately credit the site. You are, however, expected to get rid of invalid characters and generally clean up the information (e.g., remove footnotes or references that don't exist).

You will be graded primarily on the craftsmanship of your product. Focus on presenting the material well rather than more material. Focus on presenting relevant material. There is no need to pad the website with irrelevant information.

Warning: If you are going between a PC and a Mac for the spreadsheet, convert to HTML and the png file first and exchange those. There is a problem with Mr Data Converter reading cross-system files.

The tasks

Spend time organizing. It is time well spent. I describe an approximate timeline with the tasks; you do not need to follow it. (Note that the timeline assumes that you will use only 2 hours; this should be sufficient, but you have the full 3 hours if you want or need it.) The timeline's intent is to get you started. You will note thst you should spend significant time planning. Again, it is time well spent.

Reading (5 minutes)

Look at the web sites provided. This will give you a common ground to plan with.

Deciding what you will build (5 minutes)

Having looked at possible topics and the material, decide what specificially you will put on your website. The topics are purposely broad enough to give you some opportunity to choose what to build. Decide on the general message of the web site, the background information that you want to give, and the data that you want to present. Do NOT agonize over the topic. You're only working on it for a few hours.

Choosing a web site to use (5 minutes)

Look at everyone's web sites and choose one to use. Everyone has built multiple web sites. You should choose one that will easily lend itself to new content. You should consider appearance, grading feedback, and how easy the owner thinks it will be to change. (If the site seems to be very sensitive to small changes, it may not be a good choice.)

Assigning tasks (5 minutes)

Talk about who is most comfortable with the different tasks. Minimally, I would suggest splitting the web page building from the data preparation. The natural tasks for the web work can be by structure and content or by pages. For the data, if you choose to use multiple sets of data, you can separate it by data set. For a single data set, you may separate by table and graph or by preparing the data for use and preparing it for presentation.

One of the problems that you need to address is how to share files. There are many different ways: email files to the person who is building the web site, use a filesharing web tool such as google drive or dropbox (but only if you already use it; don't try to learn something new) use a flash drive to exchange, or use filezilla to put files into the directory where you will post it. If you are going to use the last, one person will need to log on to their isis space on another machine. If there is no one comfortable doing that, one of the other solutions is fine.

Note that it is now 20 minutes into the exam, and you have only planned. That should not be a problem. As you enter the next phase, give yourselves check points, probably at 20-25 minute intervals. This will give you time to get some work done, but allow you time to reallocate work if your estimates were wrong or someone is having problems.

Building the web page (75 minutes)

The key steps that I would recommend here are

  1. Copy the web site that you are going to use into a new folder.
  2. Strip the content out of the site.
  3. Build the navigation and structure of the new site with working links and headers but no content. This should include the headers and footers. Remember to include who built it and when it was built. (POSSIBLE 25 MINUTE CHECKPOINT)
  4. Add the non-data content. This may include pictures as well as text. You MAY use content copied from web sites (either the ones provided or others); just be sure to cite the source. (POSSIBLE 50 MINUTE CHECKPOINT)
  5. Add the data content. The table will need to be added to the web page. The graph is simply an img file that will be uploaded into the same folder. Remember to cite the source of the data as well.
  6. Test it on another member's computer. (I will most likely be looking at the sites on Chrome.)

Producing the table and graph (75 minutes)

The key steps that I would recommend here are

  1. Download the data that you want to use. This may be a download or done with copy and paste.
  2. Once you have the data, clean it up. (POSSIBLE 25 MINUTE CHECKPOINT)
  3. Build the tables that you want.
  4. Convert at least one table into a graph. Remember to use a style of graph that is appropriate to the message that you want to convey. Also remember to label the graph (title, axes, legends, data points as appropriate).
  5. Save the spreadsheet as a webpage and extract the image that you need. (POSSIBLE 50 MINUTE CHECKPOINT)
  6. Use Mr Data Converter to convert the table to HTML. (Be sure to convert to HTML, not one of the other formats.)
  7. Using Komodo Editor, remove unused class names.
  8. Provide the table and graph to the web page.

Reviewing the web site (25 minutes)

25 minutes might seem like a long time, but it gives you time to proof the web site and fix any problems that you find. I encourage you to use the validators.

Turning in the Exam

One person is to email me with the url. Please do not leave until you are sure that I have received the email.

Have Fun!