Abstract:
This workshop presents an introduction to quantitative visualization that starts with the foundations of human perception and cognition, and extends to hands on use of illustrative dynamic PC shareware. An underlying assumption is that visualization tools can enhance and extend analysts' capabilities by exploiting their perceptual and cognitive strengths, by handling unnatural cognitive computations and searches, and by off-loading distracting bookkeeping tasks. The workshop objectives are for participants to see quantitative graphics from a broader perspective, to spot redesign opportunities for graphics and visualization software, and to be aware of selected developments in dynamic graphics software.
The workshop draws on material from an evolving scientific and statistical visualization class that has been taught to over 300 Ph.D. students from a variety of disciplines. The diverse examples range from packet header data (a day in the life of the Green network at LANL), to mortality rates and risk factors from NCI, to docking statistics for human immune systems molecules. The communication and study of geospatially-indexed statistics gets the most attention but topics include constructing coordinates when familiar coordinates are not available. Shareware provided to participants on a CD include CCmaps and CrystalVision.
Reference (current favorite): Colin Ware. 2004. Information Visualization,
Perception for Design, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
The short course is a free service offered to conference registrants. No additional fees are required beyond conference registration.