ETC5523: Communicating with Data

Assignment 3: Creating a website

Author

Michael Lydeamore

Published

6 December 2024

🎯 Objectives

  • Create your own personal website
  • Turn your previous article into a blog post
Important

This is an individual assignment.

Output format

  • Published website, using Quarto

Instructions

In this assessment, you will be creating a personal website, including information about you, and a blog post for the story you have worked on in Assignment 2.

Important

You must join the GitHub classroom here: https://classroom.github.com/a/VNotbOuM. If you cannot find your name in the list of students, please contact the lecturer directly before accepting the assignment.

Part A: The homepage (4 marks)

The template provided in GitHub classroom will set you up a basic website. Edit the _quarto.yml file to include:

  • A sensible title for your website (1 mark)
  • A link to your GitHub account (1 mark)
  • Some custom theming (2 marks):
    • Theming is subjective, but make sure to consider readability of your website. As an example, changing the default background colours sensibly could give 1 mark, and changing font colours for headings another mark.
    • You are encouraged to seek feedback on your theming before submission.
Tip

The default theming is deliberately poor!

The listing page will automatically generate, and you do not need to make any changes here.

Part B: The about page (3 marks)

In the about page (about.qmd), make the following changes:

  • Add a photo of you
  • Write a short biography
  • Change the GitHub button to link to your GitHub, and add any other buttons of your choosing

For an example about page, you can see mine here

Part C: Blog post

There is an example blog post included in the template. Replace this post with one about the story that you have written for Assignment 2.

Important

Don’t just copy-paste Assignment 2 into your blog post. Blog posts use different language, and have different features to appeal to a difference audience.

The final blog post must have:

  • A title and publishing date
  • Correct author information (you)
  • The following sections:
    • Problem description
    • Data description
    • Analysis
    • Conclusion
  • At least one figure, with a cross-reference in text
  • At least one table, with a cross-reference in text
  • At least one academic citation

You don’t have to use these headings.

Marking rubric for Part C

Problem description (2 marks):

  • Short summary of the problem or issue you are analysing (2 marks)

Data description (6 marks):

  • Source of the data clearly identified (1 mark)
  • Short description of the variables in the dataset (not a data dictionary!) (2 marks)
  • Data cleaning steps described (2 marks)
  • Code included where needed (which may not be everywhere) (1 mark)

Analysis (5 marks):

  • Tables and plots designed so that the audience can acquire the desired information efficiently (2 marks for plot, 2 marks for table)
  • Included cross-references (1 mark)
  • Analysis links back to the questions in the problem description (2 marks)

Conclusion (5 marks):

  • Links back to the problem description (2 marks)
  • Includes academic citation (here or other section) (1 mark)
  • Summarises the findings (2 marks)

Part D: Technical work

Publish your website using GitHub pages.

The website must be publicly accessible from a URL - the default URL is perfectly fine.

To do this, you will need to:

  • Set up Pages on your Classroom repository
  • Change the visibility of your repository to Public
  • Publish your website using either quarto publish or by having the site directory as part of your repo

Marking rubric for Part D

  • Working link (1 mark)
  • Pages set up correctly (1 mark)
  • Website HTML files correctly on version control (1 mark)

Maximum grade: 4 + 3 + 18 + 3 = 28 marks