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This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.

We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.

Content Knowledge

  • Homework 12 & 13: Sketch 4

    Start working on your idea for this sketch, and bring into class: data, audience AND goals!

    Finish your sketch.

    Read more: Homework 12 & 13: Sketch 4

  • Homework 10 & 11: Sketch 3

    Start working on your idea for this sketch, and bring into class: data, audience AND goals!

    Finish your sketch.

    Read more: Homework 10 & 11: Sketch 3

  • Homework 9: How to tell a story

    Read Paige Williams, “How to tell a story: The Moth.” Nieman Storyboard (Harvard), August 2012. Choose and listen to one Moth Story. Write down and bring to class your analysis, as Paige Williams lists in her article’s item #3.

    Read more: Homework 9: How to tell a story

  • Homework 7 & 8: Sketch 2

    Start working on your idea for this sketch. Come to class with with:

    • The data you are going to use (remember to go data shopping!)
    • The audience you want to make something for (remember "general public" is an unacceptable audience!)
    • Good but not required: one abstract word in your data story that you need help representing in concrete ways ("inequality", "hate", "asylum", etc.)

    Finish your sketch.

    Read more: Homework 7 & 8: Sketch 2

  • Homework 5 & 6: Sketch 1

    Come to class knowing what dataset you are working on, an outline of the story, and a sketch of what you want to make.

    Finish your sketch.

    Write up your project on the class blog. Start with a summary sentence in the form: "The data say ________. We want to tell this story because _____." Include a 300ish word summary of your data sources and why what you made is an appropriate and effective way to tell the data story.

    Read more: Homework 5 & 6: Sketch 1

  • Homework 2: Data Log

    Create an activity log of all the types of data you create and are captured in digital form during the course of one day, and enter it on the class blog.

    Read more: Homework 2: Data Log

  • Homework 1: Visualization Blog

    Write a post on the class blog about a data presentation you saw recently (250ish words). Include a link and a picture/screenshot of the presentation. Make sure to address:

    • what data is being shown
    • who you think the audience is
    • what you think the goals of the data presentation are
    • whether you think it is effective or not and why
    Read more: Homework 1: Visualization Blog

  • Reaction Papers

    Students are responsible for writing a 1–2 page reaction paper based on the readings (or another assigned topic) for each week's class for a total of eight reaction papers. Papers are due in the class for which the reading is assigned. Reaction papers are your personal response to the week's readings. These papers should offer an overview of the main points of the book or articles under consideration. It should also include your own assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these readings and, if possible, should link the reading at hand to other readings from the course or topics discussed in class.

    Read more: Reaction Papers

  • Artifacts, Layers, Traces, and Trends

    Now the objective is to find traces of these changes present in the current environment and to interpret their significance. Many of you were attracted to your site because of some anomalous features that puzzled you and made you wonder why they were there and what had caused them to be. This is an opportunity to explore some answers to such puzzles.

    Read more: Artifacts, Layers, Traces, and Trends

  • Your Site through Time

    This is the third part of a four-part, semester-long project. The first part consisted of finding a site; the second, to find evidence of its environmental history and ongoing natural processes. Now the task is to trace changes on your site over time by comparing its character at several points in time, using maps. You may find different kinds of changes: Land use, density of settlement, additions to buildings, ownership, transportation. The types of sources you will find helpful are historical maps, especially nineteenth and twentieth-century atlases, and may also include plans, prints, and photographs. 

    Read more: Your Site through Time

Notice something that doesn’t seem right? Want to make a suggestion or provide feedback about how something is classified? 
Please reach out to esi [at] mit.edu and include SCALES Website in the subject of your email.
Feedback and any actions taken with regards to the feedback, will be shared as they are addressed.