Euro-American Workshop on Visualization of Information and Data

Judith R. Brown

Information Technology Services
The University of Iowa

CONTACT INFORMATION

134A Lindquist Center
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: (319) 335-5552
Fax : (319) 335-5505
Email: judy-brown@uiowa.edu

WWW PAGE

http://www.uiowa.edu/~itsarcs

PROGRAM AREA

Usability and User-Centered Design

KEYWORDS

Information visualization, data visualization, user interfaces, data mining, WWW tools, visual search.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Information visualization is an increasingly important research and development area, crucial for the success of the information revolution. This workshop focused on visualizing information and how users interact with digital information. Co-chaired by Nahum Gershon (The MITRE Corp.) and Jacques-Emile Dubois (CODATA International) it had an international committee of visualization experts from nine countries. The goals of the workshop were to bring together researchers and developers in information visualization from Europe, United States, and Canada for intensive brain-storming to accomplish the following:

* Survey current activity in information visualization in Europe and the United States.

* Identify research and development issues in visualization.

* Forge research collaborations between the United States and Europe.

Although there has been a great deal of development of methods for visualizing diverse types of data and information, few algorithms and methods have been implemented to solve real-world problems, especially in North America. The focal point of this workshop was on implementing visualization methodology. Combining the North American and European expertise is expected to result in enhanced effectiveness of visualization, enabling better communication of information and more effective use of the information highway. This workshop was held in Paris, France, June 24-25, 1997. There were approximately 70 attendees from France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Britain, Hongkong, United States, and Canada.

PROJECT REFERENCES

Information about the workshop is at:

http://www.nrc.ca/programs/codata/gershon.html

AREA BACKGROUND

Increasing amounts of data and information and the availability of fast digital network access (e.g., the World Wide Web) have created a demand for querying, accessing, and retrieving information and data. Unlike most scientific numerical data, information is abstract, having no physical form or representation. Information Visualization involves the conversion of the abstract into concrete visual representations and creation of user interfaces to support tasks such as searching, data mining, discovery, and identification. Visualization uses the techniques of interactive graphics and imaging and relies on the visual system to perceive information. Information visualization is an increasingly important research and development area and is crucial for the success of the information revolution. Effective visualizations will enable users from all walks of life to use the information highway easily and efficiently. Among the emerging new research and development areas are interaction with large data bases, visualization of text contained in large corpora, and interaction with multi-dimensional information and data.

AREA REFERENCES

Nahum Gershon, and Stephen G. Eick (eds.), "Information Visualization," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, July/August 1997, pg. 29-78.

Judith R. Brown, Rae Earnshaw, Mikael Jern, and John Vince, "Visualization: Using Computer Graphics to Explore Data and Present Information," John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995

C. Ahlberg and E. Wistrand, "IVEE: An Information Visualization Exploration Environment," Proceedings of Information Visualization 95, IEEE Computer Soc. Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 1995, pp. 66-73.

RELATED PROGRAM AREAS

Virtual Environments, Adaptive Human Interfaces.