Campus Visualization Partnership (CVP) Lecture Series - Lecture 11/4/15

Bill Ferster is a research professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and director of interactive visualization at UVa’s Sciences, Humanities & Arts Technology Initiative (SHANTI). We have been using interactive visualization at the University of Virginia to provide interactive digital visualization seminars across multiple disciplines of study. The ability to visualize primary sources and information presents a new opportunity for digital scholarship, using data to support inquiry and argument. This inquiry is done within undergraduate seminars, co-taught by faculty members from multiple disciplines. These seminars bring together students, faculty, and outside scholars to develop highly interactive visualizations, while advancing a broadly collaborative research agenda. We have developed a prescriptive model to scaffold the process of creating these interactive data-driven visualizations. The ASSERT model is based on the principles research found in the social sciences, and helps guide the process of inquiry driven visualizations. The seminars utilize VisualEyes, a web-based authoring tool developed at Virginia to weave images, maps, charts, video and data into highly interactive and compelling dynamic visualizations. Dr. Ferster’s lecture is jointly sponsored by the Division of Information Technology and the Maryland Institute for the Humanities (MITH).