The future of user interfaces for data analysis is in the direction of larger, higher resolution screens, which present perceptually-rich and information-abundant displays. With such designs, the flood of data can be turned into a productive knowledge. Human perceptual skills are quite remarkable and largely underutilized in current information and computing systems, and visualization tools have rapidly emerged as a potent technology to support data analysis and human decision-making.
The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) is dedicated to teaching core concepts and competencies necessary to understand, research, and address socio-environmental problems. SESYNC will host participants for a two-day short course on Interactive Visualization Tools for Socio-Environmental Data. The course will be held August 15–16 at SESYNC in Annapolis, MD.
After a general introduction of the principles of human-computer interaction and information visualization, this course will review numerous examples of successful uses of visualization technologies. The basic principle of the Visual Information Seeking Mantra – "Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand" – will be illustrated with multivariate, heterogeneous, hierarchical, or network data. Ample time will be reserved for hands-on practice.
The goals of the short course are to:
- introduce participants to interactive information and geospatial visualization principles and tools;
- provide hands-on experience with a variety of existing applications; and
- prepare participants to select or design new interactive visualizations.
