Blog 2009

We are looking for people who use Parallel Sets with real-world data and who would be interested in taking part in writing up a case study for the InfoVis Discovery Exhibition. You don’t have to share your data, and the images can be anonymized, but it has to be real data (and you have to be able to describe what it is and what you learned in a way that is not too general).
[Read more…] about Looking for Parallel Sets Users with Real Data

A while ago, I complained about the state of visualization on the web. To improve things, I am co-organizing a workshop at VisWeek in October to discuss the status quo, potential problems, and to find new ways to get visualization people to make their mark online. Whether you have a blog or website, don’t have a blog or website, plan on starting one, are afraid of starting one, or think this whole web thing is just a fad – we want to hear from you!
[Read more…] about Putting Visualization on the Web – at VisWeek 2009

After an initial commitment, an announcement, and a delay, we are proud to announce that the Parallel Sets application has been released! Mac OS X and Windows versions are ready to be downloaded, and the source code is available for your enlightenment and/or entertainment.
[Read more…] about Parallel Sets Released!

After the underwhelming participation in last year’s InfoVis contest, there will be a different approach this year: The InfoVis Discovery Exhibition. The goal is to collect reports of visualization is used in real-world scenarios, and how visualization tools can help solve real problems. There are already two examples, and with enough participation, this should turn into a great resource. See below for how you can participate, and what’s in it for you.
[Read more…] about InfoVis 2009 Discovery Exhibition

It’s not quite the National Data Agency I envisioned earlier this year, but Data.gov is now live. It’s a laudable effort, and there is quite a bit of data there, but it’s still very labor-intensive to get the data sets and convert them into usable formats. But it’s becoming clear that data needs to be shared, and that access to government data will soon be regarded as much as an inherent part of a democracy as free elections.
[Read more…] about Democracy, Public Data, and Data.gov

Of all the sins committed against visualization on the Internet, the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods stands out as the most egregious. Its collection of actual visualization methods, structural diagrams, and feel-good business bullshit does not fit a structure that was devised to understand the world – and that is actually a very effective visualization in itself.
[Read more…] about Visualization is not Periodic, Period!

I’m very sorry, but we have to delay the release. We need to make sure that we have the right to release the program, and this is taking a bit longer than expected. The software was written in part by students paid from the SRVAC, which is funded by DHS and DOE. It is unlikely that there will be a problem, but we don’t have the go-ahead yet, either. I am hoping that we can get the green light this week.
[Read more…] about Parallel Sets Release Pushed Back A Bit (Updated)

I got the domains EagerEars.org and EagerEars.com for my April Fool’s joke. Now the question is: what to do with them? If you have an idea and want to have the domain, let me know. You can have it for the remaining period it was registered for (until January 2010), and then decide what to do with it. I will keep some control over it until then though to make sure EagerEars does not become a spam or phishing site.
[Read more…] about Anybody interested in eagerears.org/.com?

We promised the release of the Parallel Sets program for the end of April, but we have to push it to May 7. The reason is quite simply lack of time: the semester is ending here at UNC Charlotte, and things are rather busy as a result. There is also the nuts-and-bolts work of making this work as an application for end-users that works well on at least two platforms (Windows and Mac OS X), and that can provide useful information when it doesn’t.
[Read more…] about Parallel Sets Release Date

As one of the Tutorials Chairs at this year’s VisWeek (which is the combination of the IEEE Vis and InfoVis conferences, and the VAST symposium), I want to make you aware of the upcoming deadline for submitting tutorial proposals: April 28. We are looking for a wide variety of ideas, but I want to especially encourage the submission of tutorials on design for visualization. VisWeek will take place October 10–16 in Atlantic City, NJ.
[Read more…] about Design Tutorials for VisWeek 2009