Keynote Speakers
Opening Keynote
Dr. Colin Ware
Data Visualization Research Lab
CCOM, University of New Hampshire
Patterns and Words, Logic and Narrative: What can we expect of a visual language?
Current theories of perception and language can help answer the question, “What can we expect of a visual language?” There are fundamental differences between visual and linguistic forms of expression. Linguistic forms of expression are characterized by the use of a rich set of socially invented arbitrary symbols as well as a form of logic exemplified by the ‘ifs’, ‘ands’ and ‘buts’ of natural language. The grammar of visual representation is quite different having to do with pattern relationships such as ‘connected’, ‘inside’, ‘outside’, or ‘part of’. These derive from our visual processing mechanism developed through interaction with the visual environment. This means that certain kinds of logic are best left to verbal or written language whereas structural relationships are best conveyed visually.
Narrative, however, can be carried either through language or purely visual techniques or both. This is because narrative is about leading the attention of an audience and this can be achieved through either modality. Nevertheless, what can be expressed within a narrative is very different depending on the modality. Language can convey complex logical relationships between abstract ideas and support conditional actions whereas visual media can support the perception of almost instantaneous scene gist, rapid explorations of spatial structure and relationships between objects as well as emotions and motivations. Both can maintain and hold the thread of audience attention which is the essence of narrative.
Closing Keynote
Dr. George Robertson
Microsoft Research
Twelve Years of Visualization Research at Microsoft
Microsoft Research has been involved in a variety of visualization research efforts over the last twelve years. In this talk, I will summarize the various threads of research, which include task management, personal information management, software visualization, business visualization, community visualization, graph and tree visualization, and visual analytics for homeland security. I will give demonstrations of key prototypes that have been built. One of the key challenges throughout this work has been developing effective means of evaluation of visualization techniques. I will summarize what we have learned about evaluation methods. Finally, I will summarize some basic lessons learned about what visualization techniques are most effective across all of these research efforts.
Biography
George Robertson is an ACM Fellow, a member of the CHI Academy, and a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, where he manages an information visualization research group. Before coming to Microsoft, he was a Principal Scientist at Xerox PARC, working on 3D interactive animation interfaces for intelligent information access. He was the architect of the Information Visualizer. He has also been a Senior Scientist at Thinking Machines, a Senior Scientist at Bolt Beranek and Newman, and a faculty member of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie-Mellon University. In the past, he has made significant contributions to machine learning, multimedia message systems, hypertext systems, operating systems, and programming languages.
Robertson serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Homeland Security National Visualization and Analytics Center. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. He is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Information Visualization. He has served on the Information Visualization Steering Committee since 1995. He chaired UIST'97 and InfoVis 2004.
