MSU Fund Number: 360015 192700
Awarded Amount: $47,053

Principal Investigator: Dr. T. J. Jankun-Kelly

Objectives:
The purpose of visualization is to extract insight from data through the use of images and animations of the datas features. Over the past decade, the field of visualization has matured; however, relatively little effort has been directed towards improving the usability of scientific visualization systems. Recent advances in structured visualization environments, visualization interfaces which provide context for a users exploration process, have begun to address this need. However, these efforts have been limited to traditional desktop environments. With the increased use of large-scale displays such as display walls in research environments, the need for structured interfaces tailored to these displays also increases. Towards this end, this proposal discusses research into developing structured environments specifically targeted at large-scale displays. The goal of the proposed research is to investigate principles for user interfaces for visualization systems on large-scale displays. Though desktops will remain a common modality for visualization exploration, larger displays such as high-resolution display walls composed of several monitors are becoming more prevalent in research laboratories. Though these displays have been exploited for presentation purposes, little work has focused on the cognitive issues of interacting with these devices, especially for visualization. One perceived benefit of these devices is the large field of view. This field of view could potentially be exploited by providing additional context for a visualization user that would be impractical on desktop-scale systems. This seed project aims to begin to develop and evaluate such an interface on a multi-display system as an initial step to an externally funded investigation into increased human performance on similar systems.