With this post I want to clarify some questions regarding the exam for the IR part:
1) while the first exam is set around the middle of December (more below), it is not the only possible date.
2) In fact, if a few people say "we will be ready to give the exam by date X", then I will arrange an exam at that date of shortly after.
3) I will fix two dates, one in December and one in January for the exam. After that, the exam will be "on demand" (see point 2).
For December the date of the exam is December 10, with submission of the project one week before, in December 3 (by midnight). In this way there will be no overlap with the project for the data visualization part.
If enough people ask for it, I am also available to fix a second date in December. In that case some overlap with the other part of the course will be inevitable.
In you have any question, please do not be afraid to ask.