Interactive Data Analysis - Jeffrey Heer - May 23, 2013

Interactive Data Analysis

Data analysis is a complex process with frequent shifts among data formats and models, and among textual and graphical media. We are investigating how to better support this lifecycle of analysis by identifying critical bottlenecks and developing new methods at the intersection of data visualization, machine learning and computer systems. Can we empower users to transform and clean data without programming? Can we design scalable representations and systems to visualize and query big data in real-time? How might we enable domain experts to guide machine learning methods to produce better models? Jeffrey Heer presents selected projects that attempt to address these challenges and introduce new tools for interactive visual analysis.

Jeffrey Heer is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he works on human-computer interaction, visualization and social computing. His research investigates the perceptual, cognitive and social factors involved in making sense of large data collections, resulting in new interactive systems for visual analysis and communication. The visualization tools developed by his lab (D3, Protovis, Flare, Prefuse) are used by researchers, companies and thousands of data enthusiasts around the world. His group has received Best Paper and Honorable Mention awards at the premier venues in Human-Computer Interaction and Information Visualization (ACM CHI, ACM UIST, IEEE InfoVis, IEEE VAST). In 2009 Jeff was named to MIT Technology Review's TR35; in 2012 he was named a Sloan Foundation Research Fellow. He holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

About the symposium:

Nearly every scientific and engineering endeavor faces a fundamental challenge to see and extract insights from data. Effective Data Science and Visualization can lead to new discoveries.

Together, we at Caltech, NASA JPL, and Art Center represent the same convergence of science, engineering and design that drives new Big Data-powered discovery.

On May 23, 2013, industry leaders visited Pasadena for a series of talks to inspire, unite and challenge our community to re-examine our practices, and our perspectives. Guests included:

* Fernanda Viégas & Martin Wattenberg | Co-leaders, Google Data Visualization Group
* Jer Thorp | Co-founder, The Office for Creative Research
* Golan Levin | Director, Carnegie Mellon Studio for Creative Inquiry
* Eric Rodenbeck | Founder, Stamen Design
* Jeff Heer | Assistant Professor, Stanford University
* Anja-Silvia Goeing | Privatdozent, University of Zurich and Lecturer of History and History of Science, Caltech

Produced in association with Caltech Academic Media Technologies. © 2013 California Institute of Technology.