Data Viz Idea Brainstorming

Data Viz project ideas:

1) Dynamic Infographic
	-The most popular way to present easily digestible data is an infographic, currently. Making it dynamic could make it

 interactive and interesting.
	-Curious if Pokemon data is readily available in csv format. Could have it such that I could sort Pokemon by type and
	 have interactible stats for each Pokemon.
		-pros:
			-I love Pokemon and it's something that if I made it, it could be interesting to people beyond this

			 class.
			-Pokemon is VERY data-heavy with many parameters (primary type, secondary type, six base stats, primary

			 ability, secondary ability, Pokedex #, etc., can even get into what Pokemon can do which moves) so

			 there's LOTS of room to play, especially since Pokemon is a highly statistical game
		-cons:
			-Doubtful that someone has made a comprehensive csv including all Pokemon stats.
			-Even if there was, I think making something presentable in something so popular would require
			 more effort than I can exert in a few weeks' timeframe. Especially since I'm a perfectionist and would
			 try and do too much at once and probably run into several bugs and maybe give up on the project.

2) Use machine learning in Python (ask professor if this is ok) or maybe even pj5s to generate a visualization and ask for an

input to predict an output. Have the user click around to learn how it works. This would be a way to add user interface while

implementing ML
	-get exoplanet data in csv form and have people test out various parameters like "distance from star" "type of star"

	 "mass" and have them select which parameter they want to test to see what kind of planet would form ("hot jupiter"
	 "terrestrial" "gas giant" etc.
		-pros:
			-interesting
			-data likely readily available en masse
		-cons:
			-would require me watching days of videos that I couldn't possibly complete a presentable assignment in
		         the timeframe of the assignment
	- Use one of the existing databases specifically designed for machine learning.
		-pros:
			-easier to set up
		-cons:
			-I already browsed the database and there isn't anything super interesting in there. Plenty of cool
			 things but teaching myself data-crunching and data-visualization through machine learning is already
			 something fairly intense when I barely understand Python as it stands. I'm able to do it, but I can't
			 fully grasp it at a fundamental level yet. The theory, yes. The implementation, not as much.

3) Use p5js or d3js to do live lookups of weather data (apparently there's a site called openweathermap that uses JavaScript to

provide limited amounts of data for free) and present the information in an interesting manner.

	-Could limit it just to Orlando, or have it so that anyone could enter information and I'd build my own little weather

applet.
		-pros:
			-I'm very knowledgable about the weather, so I'd be set on knowing how to interpret weather data
			 in a human-understandable way.
		-cons:
			-I'm not at all familiar with how to process live data so this is probably a project I save for another

		 day when I'm far better versed in JavaScript

4) You know those "digits of pi" visualization charts? Make that, but for any float. Would be more complex because I'd have to

have it compute sqrt(x) or other predefined transcendentals up to 10,000 decimal points.

	-Visually aesthetic and more like real data visualization.
		-pros:
			-there's probably documentation on how to build a basic generator like this
		-cons:
			-might be too easy and not something worthy of a "final project" because it's something I could
			 reasonably build in 3 days. Far too easy.

5) A fractal is a beautiful form of pure mathematical data visualization.

	-So you know how the Mandelbrot Set is defined to be z_n = (z_(n-1))^2 + z_0? There are variants of the Mandelbrot set
	 that use different exponents, cubed, to the fourth, etc. that would be fairly easy to have user input to change (input

 a float, although due to the weird errors with float mixed with the chaos theory of fractals, it'd be safer to stick to

 int). Could also set it to Julia mode and have it generate fractals where z_0 is instead a c value.
		-pros:
			-Is sufficiently difficult but something I could realistically could do within the timeframe of the

	 course
			-Has been a goal of mine to program for years
		-cons:
			-Doesn't quite satisfy the requirements of the project
			-Would be better on a GPU-enabled computer and I'm using a Surface Pro 2, which has decent CPU
			 but a terrible GPU.
6) Facebook friends-of-friends graph nodes
	-There's a tight-knit group of friends I have, the objectum-sexual friends, who are friends with each other. Because

there's a lot of drama, some friends aren't friends with others, so there is some disconnect with who is friends with 	 whom.

It's a perfect template to create a node graph of the friend network.
		-pros:
			-relatively easy to collect the data (I could sample 10 friends and their mutuals who are also in the

	 community)
			-would be a fun one to set up.
		-cons:
			-This project might cause drama in the community and I lack the energy to deal with the drama.
	-Could create a fictional list of friends-of-friends.
		-pros:
			-will not cause drama with my actual friends (or maybe it will because some might wonder why I didn't
			 use my actual friends list)
		-cons:
			-Rather boring and might be a little too easy.
7) Portal 1 has a mode that collects data on how many steps and portals you used for a particular test chamber.
	- The game takes about 1 hour to play through and I've already practically memorized the entire game, but haven't

optimized my strategy. Play the tracking mode and collect step and portal count data 5-6 times (which is nothing) and 	  make

some sort of data viz chart of each test chamber and see what happens when I optimize for steps vs. when I 	  optimize for

portals.
		-pros:
			-I love Portal and it'd be fun
		-cons:
			-Won't be able to create anything impressive programming-wise; only something informative for the game

8) Don't even input any data. Generate a framework for a user to input 2D (or even 3D) data and have it plot to the screen.
	- Since I'm already familiar with 3D Processing, and am in the process of learning p5js, I could essentially have it so
	  that with user input, it'd add parameters to points and plot them on the screen. Have it fully interactable. Import
	  an actual library so that the navigation isn't crap like it was in the one I wanted to try building from scratch. Make

  it so that it can actually calculate regression lines, even in 3D.
		-pros:
			-a culmination of what and all I've been learning throughout the class
			-the right level of difficulty and the logical next step, maybe?
			-If I do this nicely, I can even use this to export custom graphs for actual coursework that requires
			 data plotting.

9) Do something simple, BUT do it in as many different programming languages as possible
	- Take a basic data set, and try to represent it as a very simple bar graph or a scatter plot in as many programming

languages as I can. Processing, pj5s, Python, C, C++, C#, etc.
		-pros:
			-Forces me to learn the basics of a variety of OOP languages which will be very helpful moving forward
			-Would be an interesting learning experience to see how I can do the same thing in different languages
		-cons:
			-Would require me watching days of videos just to get even one other programming language to the level
			 I can plot charts.
			-Unsure of how helpful this would be in the future as I might get confused learning syntax of various
			 languages in parallel, especially the more similar ones.

10) Take one data set, and try and represent it in as many different simple ways as possible in Processing, p5js, or d3js.
	-Take a basic data set and try and represent it in as many different visualizations as possible. Have these be selectable
	 to the user, with a little pop up with information on the pros and cons of each graph.
		-pros:
			-Using what I already know in ways I didn't know I could do.
			-Learn how to create different data viz structures
			-Could be very useful as reference to other students if I get it done long before the project is
			 actually due, and could format it so that future students get a ReadMe that explains how to
			 interpret the code. With 10 different easy ways to visualize data and an explanation of each,
			 it might help them with their own code and ideas of their own.
		-cons:
			-I'm not learning anything really useful for my long-term goal of machine learning
			-Sort of underwhelming in presentation (but still, if it helps other students, it might be worth my

	 while creating several simple applets, even if it means not using classes to define data structures in
			 one applet)