Project Description

Overview

The capstone of this course is a Shiny app of your own design—an interactive tool that lets a user explore a data set and come away having learned something. You will pull together the whole arc of the course: getting and wrangling data, visualizing it well, and wrapping it in an interactive interface. Much of the work happens in class during the project studio sessions in the second half of the term, so you will not be building it alone.

Working in groups

You may complete the project on your own or in a group of up to three students. Groups are optional, but if you form one:

• Keep it to three students maximum.
• Divide the work clearly. In your proposal and again with your final submission, include a short statement of who is responsible for what (for example: data wrangling, UI design, server logic, write-up). Every member should contribute meaningfully to the code.
• You will submit one app per group, and all members share the grade. Because of the group element, the project is weighted so that it is a meaningful—but not dominant—part of your grade.

What makes a good project

• A clear question or theme a user can explore.
• A data set that is comprehensive and convenient to work with (course data or another source—there is no time for original data collection).
• At least one well-crafted, labeled visualization that responds to user input.
• A thoughtful interface: the controls should change the output in a way that teaches the user something.

Deliverables and timeline

When	Deliverable
Week 8 (flex session)	Project proposal — commit to an idea, layout, data, and the interaction you envision. See Project Proposal.
Weeks 13, 15	Project studios — build and troubleshoot your app in class, with optional check-in meetings.
Week 16	Final app + live presentation — deploy your app and demo it for the class. See Final Project.

For ideas about data to work with, see the Datasets page.