Use a budget-constrained image encoding challenge to force explicit tradeoffs between spatial and color resolution¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Teams receive a grayscale astronomy photograph, a science-case goal (e.g., mapping sunspots), and a limited budget with a transmission cost per pixel and color bit, so they cannot maintain fidelity in both spatial and color resolution and must make a tradeoff. The article states: "Their budget was $1000 and pixels were $2 each while colors were $50 each." Teams then write up their encoded image with a file-format description, swap with another team, and decode it by drawing.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A photometer and light box for digitizing images by hand; science goals assigned per team; letters-and-numbers-only recording so another team can decode the image.

Constraints¶

• The authors reflected that the budgetary constraint may have been too complicated, and many students found identifying tradeoffs difficult.

Target Learners¶

• first- and second-year undergraduate engineering technology students

Target Learning Goals¶

• evaluating tradeoffs
• image digitization
• defining a problem and proposing a solution under constraints

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Morzinski, K. M., Crockett, C. J., and Crossfield, I. J. (2010). Digital image exploration at Maui Community College. ASP Conference Series. https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.3297 doi:10.48550/arxiv.1009.3297