Invited Speaker

Pourang Irani
Computer Science
University of Manitoba
Thursday, July 21, 11:30-12:30
GINIus Demo Room

Visualization of Structured Information Based on Theories of Perception

Abstract

Information is commonly structured, presented and communicated using diagrams. One particular type of diagram that has played a predominant role in the Information Sciences is the node- link diagram. Nodes that represent entities, objects, or units and links that represent relationships of various kinds between the nodes characterize this type of diagram. Visually these nodes are represented using outline forms such as boxes and circles and the links have been depicted with lines consisting of different characteristics. Embedded in these visual structures are a set of semantics or concepts that are important to the user.

Recent advances in perception present evidence that our visual system is endowed with the capability of recognizing objects from their structural composition. This structure is inherently 3D in nature. This presentation will describe the application of several theories of perception for creating diagrams that are more expressive tools for communicating abstract information and semantics. The results of several experiments comparing the perceptual representation to more conventional representations will be discussed. The presentation will also discuss the application of the perceptual notations and their extensions for depicting information that is not static. The talk will conclude with a discussion of ongoing research for representing non-static semantics and the issues involved in displaying these.

Speaker

Pourang Irani has been an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Manitoba since receiving his PhD from the University of New Brunswick in 2002. His research is in human-computer interaction with a focus on information visualization. He is currently interested in the display of dynamic information and on applying theories of motion perception to animated displays.

Everyone is Welcome