Visualization: Transforming Communities and Practice: Gordon Research Conference, Workshops, and Mini-Grants to Advance Visualization Research in Science & Education

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Visualization in Science and Education is a premier meeting for active researchers from a variety of disciplines including scientific visualization, use of visualization in education, visualization design, virtual reality, cognitive research, etc. The conference provides a framework to exchange ideas and build a broadening community around a crucial cross-and trans-disciplinary field that supports scientific research and science education. This three-phase project builds on the previous meetings and activities of the interdisciplinary community of the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education, dating back to 1994. Phase 1 includes three pre-conference workshops (on Design Principles for the New Media, Assessing Visualizations: Design & Effectiveness, and Forging Creative Communities with Web-based Tools) and a new interactive Sci-Viz website informs and engages past and potential future members of the community with information on the pre-workshops and the conference itself, and serves as an organizing tool for dissemination and the design of the 2013 conference. Phase 2 (the conference itself) follows traditional GRC format and is held at Bryant University in July 2011 (see http://bit.ly/grc-viz-2011). Phase 3 includes collaborative efforts supported via mini-grants, post-conference activities which include a meeting to produce a follow-up report on results and lessons learned from the 8 meetings of the Visualization GRC conference series plus follow-up online activities that involve the wider community in ongoing revisions of the report as well as contributing shared resources. The broader impacts of the conference and its associated activities are to strengthen the professional interdisciplinary community around science visualization. Interactive community website (http://taxane.chem.unb.ca/GRC-SciViz) will provide information on the series of activities and include a report outlining future research directions and collaborative activities.