Data Interface Critique

Goals of critiques

  • Provide some summary of the main features / functionality
  • Note stated or apparent intended audience
  • Make it clear what the goals of the project are
  • Evaluate how well the various facets of the website (design, organization, writing style, interface, functionality) facilitate its intended goals for its audience
  • Note aspects that work well
  • Note aspects that need improvement (and why!)
  • Remember to incorporate our readings from earlier in the semester (yes in fact there was a reason we read all those!)
  • Contemplate about how maps, databases, interfaces, and visualizations shape the kinds of (historical) interpretations the website is meant to facilitate.

What’s behind the curtain?

  • What are the original sources? How accessible does the site make them?
  • How easy is it to see where the data comes from and gets represented?
  • Do you get a sense what data exists and what doesn’t?
  • How might the interface/visualization be misleading?
  • How is the design working for or against the purposes of the site?