Why Visualization? Task Abstraction for Analysis and Design

People use visualization techniques, tools, and artefacts to consume and produce information relevant to many different application domains or use cases. In my talk, I will argue why it is important to understand visualization as a process centred around tasks, and I will offer my perspectives on what visualization research is all about and where more work is needed. I will discuss the unique challenges of designing and evaluating visualization tools and techniques, providing examples from the research projects that I have conducted over the past five years. These projects span multiple datatypes, including time-oriented and text-based data, and multiple application domains, including energy management and investigative journalism.

Speaker Details

Matthew Brehmer is a PhD candidate in the InfoVis Group at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he works with Tamara Munzner. He received his MSc degree in human-computer interaction in 2011 from the University of British Columbia and his undergraduate degree in cognitive science in 2009 from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. His research interests include visualization design studies, task analysis, and data journalism/storytelling.