• Train_Timetable.pdf

I really liked the use of the lines to show physically where the train ought to be at any given point in time.

This is a visual representation of debris in space:

• Space_Debris.pdf

I particularly liked that chart because, while I've been told that there's a lot of debris in space (and even given estimates on the number of junk objects floating around), for me it has been difficult to grasp the extent of the situation, and I think seeing what our planet's orbit may look like due to the debris has helped me.

This is a chart used by the defense in the Gotti trial to discredit witnesses by pointing out their prior convictions:

• Convictions_Spreadsheet.pdf

I think the chart is particularly effective because of the placement of the various convictions; as noted in the text, convictions that occured more frequently among the witnesses, regardless of severity, were placed at the center of the chart, where you might normally look first, meaning that you're hit with a load of black X marks when you first look at it. The use of black X marks seemed pretty effective to me as well; I think that's a symbol that's pretty commonly understood as a negative mark, so even without the line at the left explaining what the X marks stand for, it's pretty easily understood that these are things we're meant to think of as bad.

This is a list of medical expenses that have been annotated to include a narration of the patient's experience:

• Medical_Expenses.pdf

I thought about trying to include something like this in the timeline, because I thought it was a really compelling demonstration of how much is behind the numbers. I've sort of decided against this, because I think part of what I've been trying to do is see how much I can learn just from the physical placement of events within a representation of time, but I still thought this chart was really interesting.

Here is my current timeline:

• timeline_8-2.pdf

I've been having some problems with spacing, particularly in the latter half of the 1800s; specifically, there are events that I wanted to represent using a vertical line that I had difficulty placing without creating a conflict with the line representing the change in presidents. I thought about resolving this by taking the president line out altogether, but I do think that line itself can be informative, so I've instead tried to fit things as well as I can. I suppose the entire thing could be lengthened, but it already seems long almost to the point of impracticality. A few of the things I've noticed while doing this that I thought were interesting (some of these may seem pretty obvious to others in the class, but they had never particularly struck me until now):

• The regularity with which we elect presidents to a second term is something fairly new.
• Sort of connected to that point, but the frequency with which leadership changed in the 1800s (due to both elections, assasinations, and other deaths in office) seemed to kind of fit with how unsteady the U.S. was during that century.
• The negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase took about as long to complete as the Lewis and Clark expedition did.
• I didn't realize fully how much legal work had gone into civil rights prior to the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
• I didn't realize fully how close in time (or probably I should say connected in time) Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War were.

-- KeikoHayakawa - 26 Dec 2009