Remco Chang - Conceptualizing Visualizations as Functions, Spaces, and Grammars
Host
Arvind Satyanarayan
CSAIL
Abstract:
Visualization is often regarded as a static artifact – an image-based representation of data. However, from a mathematical and programmatic perspective, it can be more accurately described as a function: an action that transforms data and parameters into visual form. By framing visualization as a function, we can investigate its properties by examining its inputs (domain) and outputs (range), both of which can be conceptualized as distinct spaces. In this talk, I first present our work on learning the input and output spaces of visualizations using neural networks. I then introduce other spaces considered by the visualization research community, such as pixel space, interaction space, and design space. Finally, I discuss our research on viewing visualizations through the lens of grammars, demonstrating how this approach helps us uncover key properties and delineate the boundaries between data, task, and visualization spaces.
Bio:
Remco Chang is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at Tufts University. He received his BA in Computer Science and Economics from Johns Hopkins University, his MSc from Brown University, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte. Prior to his PhD, he worked at Boeing, developing real-time flight tracking and visualization software, and later served as a research scientist at UNC Charlotte. His research interests include visual analytics, information visualization, human-computer interaction (HCI), and databases. His work has been supported by the NSF, DARPA, Navy, DOD, Walmart Foundation, Merck, DHS, MIT Lincoln Lab, and Draper, and he is a co-founder of two startups, Hopara.io and GraphPolaris. He has received best paper, best poster, and honorable mention awards at InfoVis, VAST, CHI, EuroVis. He served as program chair of the IEEE VIS conference in 2018 and 2019 and is the general chair of VIS in 2024. Additionally, he is an associate editor for the ACM TiiS and IEEE TVCG journals and received the NSF CAREER Award in 2015. He has mentored 11 PhD students and postdocs who now hold faculty positions at institutions such as Smith College (x2), DePaul University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Washington, University of San Francisco, University of Colorado Boulder, WPI, San Francisco State, the University of Utrecht, and Brandeis, as well as 7 researchers working in companies and government agencies like Google, Draper, Facebook, MIT Lincoln Lab (x2), the National Renewable Energy Lab, and Idaho National Lab.
This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/99222844035.
Visualization is often regarded as a static artifact – an image-based representation of data. However, from a mathematical and programmatic perspective, it can be more accurately described as a function: an action that transforms data and parameters into visual form. By framing visualization as a function, we can investigate its properties by examining its inputs (domain) and outputs (range), both of which can be conceptualized as distinct spaces. In this talk, I first present our work on learning the input and output spaces of visualizations using neural networks. I then introduce other spaces considered by the visualization research community, such as pixel space, interaction space, and design space. Finally, I discuss our research on viewing visualizations through the lens of grammars, demonstrating how this approach helps us uncover key properties and delineate the boundaries between data, task, and visualization spaces.
Bio:
Remco Chang is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at Tufts University. He received his BA in Computer Science and Economics from Johns Hopkins University, his MSc from Brown University, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte. Prior to his PhD, he worked at Boeing, developing real-time flight tracking and visualization software, and later served as a research scientist at UNC Charlotte. His research interests include visual analytics, information visualization, human-computer interaction (HCI), and databases. His work has been supported by the NSF, DARPA, Navy, DOD, Walmart Foundation, Merck, DHS, MIT Lincoln Lab, and Draper, and he is a co-founder of two startups, Hopara.io and GraphPolaris. He has received best paper, best poster, and honorable mention awards at InfoVis, VAST, CHI, EuroVis. He served as program chair of the IEEE VIS conference in 2018 and 2019 and is the general chair of VIS in 2024. Additionally, he is an associate editor for the ACM TiiS and IEEE TVCG journals and received the NSF CAREER Award in 2015. He has mentored 11 PhD students and postdocs who now hold faculty positions at institutions such as Smith College (x2), DePaul University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Washington, University of San Francisco, University of Colorado Boulder, WPI, San Francisco State, the University of Utrecht, and Brandeis, as well as 7 researchers working in companies and government agencies like Google, Draper, Facebook, MIT Lincoln Lab (x2), the National Renewable Energy Lab, and Idaho National Lab.
This talk will also be streamed over Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/99222844035.