Exploring Techniques for Efficient, Enjoyable Information Access

Speaker
John Stasko
Associate Professor, College of Computing and the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center, Georgia Tech

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

Over the past ten years, the Internet and the WWW have provided us with access to an incredible amount and variety of information. While there can be a tremendous benefit to this, too often people are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of and the complexities inherent in accessing information that could be valuable to them. My research develops ways to help people harness and take advantage of information. In this talk, I will describe two projects currently underway within this theme. The first introduces the InfoCanvas, a system that uses peripheral displays to allow people to create personalized paintings in which imagery reflects the current state of information of interest, thus providing a type of “Information Art.” The second project is examining the utility and viability of a controversial method for assisting information access, the use of anthropomorphic interface agents.

Speaker's Bio

John Stasko is an Associate Professor in the College of Computing and the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests are broadly in HCI, with a particular focus on information visualization, information awareness, user interfaces, and interface agents. Stasko is the Director of the Information Interfaces research group that focuses on helping people harness and take advantage of the multitude of information now available to them. He has published over 70 journal and conference proceedings articles on this and other topics.

Speaker's Website
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~john.stasko/