Joshua Velasquez, CSCI E-64, Spring 2009

MIT Publicity Interface

Screenshots:
(click to enlarge)

The Sales & Publicity Timeline: view sales in relation to the timing of publicity efforts.

View the details of a publicity item in the Timeline view by clicking the item's name.

The Publicity Feedback section: view data either in aggregate (all events or selected events) or individually (single event) by using checkboxes next to a list of events.

A table with the publicity feedback summary accompanies the visualization.
Motivating questions:
  • What are the most effective ways of marketing events to MIT students?
  • Does the type of event change how it should be marketed?
  • Does the timing of publicity efforts make a difference in sales?
  • Do different audiences respond differently to different publicity methods?
  • Does a promotion of higher design quality increase its effectiveness?
  • What do advertisements at MIT look like?
Sources of data: The data came from the SAO Tickets system's databases, including order information such as ticket quantities and order dates, as well as publicity data provided voluntarily by customers and by the student groups involved. Most student groups did not participate in the "publicity timeline" aspect, so some of that data was missing at the time the final project was due. The "peer rating" data came from short surveys given out to my colleagues asking to rate the perceived effectiveness of the particular publicity effort.
Target audience: Event planners at MIT would be the primary audience of this tool. Financial supporters might also be interested, as well as outside entities attempting to market to MIT students.
Visualization and interaction methods:
  • Timeline visualization with the ability to view sales in relation to the timing of publicity efforts
  • A pie chart visualization to show the percentages of responses (based on customer feedback) to the various publicity methods
  • Interactivity through pop-up boxes which show additional data or text clarification
  • Pop-up boxes include an image or other representation of the particular publicity item.
  • Pop-up boxes include the voting results from the design quality survey represented by a familiar "out of five stars" graphic.
  • Interactivity through the ability to view the Publicity Feedback data either in aggregate (all events or selected events) or individually (single event) by using checkboxes next to a list of events.
Acknowledgements:

Thank you to the following groups and technologies for making this project possible: