Pr/BSc/MSc Topics

Potential Topics (Keith Andrews)

This is a list of potential topics to give you a flavour of the kind of things I do.
Last Updated: 2022-01-07.

Online Tree Testing Tool (Diamond TreeTest)

Tree testing is a method for evaluating an information hierarchy. Test users are asked to locate items within a plain, unadorned information hierarchy and their progress is recorded and analysed. Diamond is a web-based tree testing and card sorting application based on a MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, Node).

This topic is suitable for a Master's student with prior experience in web development. The student will extend and improve the current implementation. There are two main areas for extension: a) improving and testing the UI, b) integrating more analysis tools.

References

Christopher Oser, Markus Ruplitsch, Markus Stradner; Diamond: An Online Tool for Card Sorting and Tree Testing; Project Report, Information Architecture and Web Usability, Graz University of Technology, Austria, 01 Feb 2021. https://courses.isds.tugraz.at/iaweb/projects/ws2020/iaweb-ws2020-g3-project-diamond.pdf
Ajdin Mehic; TreeTest: Online Tree Testing for Information Hierarchies; Master's Thesis, ISDS, Graz University of Technology, Austria, 14 Oct 2019. https://ftp.isds.tugraz.at/pub/theses/amehic-2019-msc.pdf
Dave OBrien; Tree Testing; Boxes and Arrows, 05 Dec 2009; https://boxesandarrows.com/tree-testing/
Donna Spencer; A Practical Guide to Information Architecture; 2^nd Edition, UX Mastery, 2014, ISBN 0992538025. https://uxmastery.com/practical-ia/
Kathryn Whitenton; Tree Testing: Fast, Iterative Evaluation of Menu Labels and Categories; NN Group, 07 May 2017. https://nngroup.com/articles/tree-testing/
Kathryn Whitenton; Tree Testing Part 2: Interpreting the Results; NN Group, 09 Jul 2017. https://nngroup.com/articles/interpreting-tree-test-results/
Treejack; Optimal Workshop. https://optimalworkshop.com/treejack/
UserZoom Tree Testing; https://userzoom.com/tree-testing/

Online Card Sorting Tool (Diamond CardSort)

Card sorting is a technique commonly used in information architecture to create a hierarchical structure for a collection of concepts. Users sort physical or virtual concept cards into groups and then name the groups. Diamond is a web-based tree testing and card sorting application based on a MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, Node).

References

Pierre Croft; Improving Your Information Architecture With Card Sorting: A Beginner’s Guide; Smashing Magazine, 20 Oct 2014; https://smashingmagazine.com/2014/10/20/improving-information-architecture-card-sorting-beginners-guide/
Donna Spencer; Card Sorting; Rosenfeld Media, 05 Apr 2009, ISBN 1933820020. https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/card-sorting/
SimpleCardSort; https://simplecardsort.com/
OptimalSort; https://optimalworkshop.com/optimalsort.htm

Multidimensional Visual Analyser (MVA)

Multidimsenional tables (spreadsheets) can be visualised in a number of ways. This project will build a framework for multidimensional visual analysis as an Electron web app in TypeScript.

This is a larger project suitable for a Master's thesis.

References

Macrofocus; High-D; https://high-d.com/
Matt Ward; XMDV; https://davis.wpi.edu/xmdv/ https://github.com/kaiyuzhao/XmdvTool
GGobi; http://ggobi.org/

String Charter

String Charter is an Electron web app which creates a string chart (Ibry chart) from a transport schedule. The app is built in JavaScript with D3. The data is pre-fetched from a GTFS feed provider (transit authority) and relevant fields are extracted and prepared as a CSV for input into String Charter. The sring chart can be exported as SVG.

This topic is suitable for a Bachelor's or Master's student with prior experience in web development. The current implementation needs to be further extended in functionality (for example, to directly read and internally parse GTFS feeds), have its interface polished, and undergo some usability testing.

References

Gabriela Ožegovic, Mauro Jurada, Elliot Koh, and Sven Celin; Interactive Train Schedules with String Charter; Project Report, Information Visualisation SS 2020, Graz University of Technology, Austria, 29 Jun 2020. https://courses.isds.tugraz.at/ivis/projects/ss2020/ivis-ss2020-g3-project-string-charter.pdf

Sapphire Submission and Grading System

Sapphire sapphire.isds.tugraz.at is the online submission and grading management system used for my mass courses. It is written in Ruby/Rails with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

The student will work on improving and extending Sapphire. Possible extensions include improving the UI for online submissions, better provision for multiple attempts at an exercise, and a new module to integrate external tools for HTML validation and plagiarism checking.

This topic suitable for a Master's student with good working knowledge of Ruby/Rails and frontend web development with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

Hierarchical Visualisation System (HVS)

HVS is an integrated user interface framework for multiple orthogonal visualisations of hierarchical structures. Implemented in Java. HVS needs to be reworked to support better usability (e.g. drag and drop across browsers and progressive rendering in the browsers). Metadata extraction for more common document formats.

This is a larger topic suitable for a Master's thesis.

Cone Trees

Implementation of cone trees within the Hierarchical Visualisation System (HVS). HVS is an integrated user interface framework for multiple orthogonal visualisations of hierarchical structures. Implemented in Java.

Botanic Trees

Implementation of botanic trees within the Hierarchical Visualisation System (HVS). HVS is an integrated user interface framework for multiple orthogonal visualisations of hierarchical structures. Implemented in Java.

Information Slices / Disc Trees

Implementation of disc trees within the Hierarchical Visualisation System (HVS). HVS is an integrated user interface framework for multiple orthogonal visualisations of hierarchical structures. Implemented in Java.