Research Colloquium at SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology in Surrey presents

SIAT Faculty: Lyn Bartram and Steve DiPaola

November 14, 2007 at 2:30 pm

SFU Surrey Campus, Room 5380 (5th Floor Galleria)

Lyn Bartram

• Title: Whisper, Don't Scream: Perception and Visualization in Crowded Information Spaces

Abstract:

The utility of visualization to a wide variety of tasks and domains has been well established over years of research and is increasingly grounded in studies of human perception and attention. Much of this research has been concerned with what are the most salient representations (i.e. those that attract and retain attention in perceptually efficient ways). But as the scope of the information to be displayed grows increasingly complex and the ways in which we use visualization proliferate, we are faced with a new challenge: how do we integrate and balance demanding visual cues such that they are appropriately relevant without screaming for attention? Moreover, how do we adapt or extend our notions of representation to gracefully incorporate new scopes of meaning, in particular affect and emotion, that do not necessarily function on highly focused attention but rather on ambient or peripheral communication? I The disciplines of visual design, art and psychology are essential to characterising solutions to these questions. In this talk I will discuss several current research projects that address these issues and discuss the need for an integrated approach.

Bio:

Lyn Bartram is an assistant professor in the School of Interactive Art and Technology at SFU, where she is a co-director of the h.v.iLab (humans.visualization.interfaces). Her research interests include perceptual issues in information visualization, human interaction in complex systems, and novel visualization environments. In particular she is interested in how the rich visual modality of motion and animation can be used in information visualization and affective interfaces. Her work focuses on understanding what humans do well and how to design interfaces that exploit human perception and cognition, especially in more complex environments with multiple devices, large and distributed displays or multiple users. She holds a PhD from SFU in Computer Science, a Masters (University of Waterloo) in Computer Science, and a BA (UBC) in Political Science and History. Her chequered industry career includes work in collaborative and mobile interactive systems, research management, and a number of years in the business of rock and roll.

• Title: Expressive Media and Game Systems: An Interdisciplinary Computational Intelligence Approach

Abstract:

By using parameterization techniques which model the knowledge space of a living or cognitive systems (eg. the expression space of faces) it is possible to use Artificial Intelligence techniques such as Neural Networks and Genetic Programming to create new types of expression systems for use in communication, learning, interactive games and digital media systems. DiPaola will discuss and demonstrate his work in this area (see http://ivizlab.sfu.ca). Best known for his expertise in 3D facial and avatar systems, DiPaola will demonstrate iFace research which uses an intelligent behavior based parameterized approach to synthetic facial communication, and its applications in psychology research, gaming and learning. He will show his lab's ongoing work with: the Vancouver Aquarium to create an aLife based Virtual Whale Interactive, where visitors can collaboratively interact with a simulated pod of wild belugas to learn more about their behaviors, a system that allows gamers to browse face-space for the EA/Maxis game 'The Sims', as well as more experimental systems that explore expression and creativity models -- that create moving set design by extracting emotion out a music score or automatically evolving abstract portrait painter programs using Genetic Programming as a way to enhance automatic computer creativity.

Bio:

Steve DiPaola, equally active as an artist and scientist is an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University. He directs the iViz research lab (ivizlab.sfu.ca) which strives to make socially-based interactive visualization systems bend more to the human experience by incorporating parameterized cognitive and living system models. He came to SFU from Stanford University and before that spent 10 years as a senior researcher at NYIT Computer Graphics Lab, an early pioneering lab in high-end 3D techniques. He has held leadership positions (CTO, VP Creative, Dir of Dev.) at leading edge companies including Electronic Arts (Advanced Technology Group), Saatchi & Saatchi Innovation, Silicon Valley start-ups and has consulted for HP, Kodak Research, Macromedia and the Institute for the Future. His still and interactive art work has been exhibited international including the AIR and Tibor de Nagy galleries in NYC as well as the Whitney Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and the IBM Gallery of Science and Art. He has created collaborative pieces with media artist Nam June Paik and electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk and is known for making new media authoring tools used equally by artists, scientists and universities. See dipaola.org.

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