Immersed in N-Dimensions: Using the Creative Process as A Computational Framework for Unfolding Complex Systems
A lecture by
Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin
University of California, Santa Barbara
October 7, 2015
12:15-1:30pm
J.M. Patterson Building, Room 2121
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
FIA sponsored, along with UMD’s Division of Information Technology and the Campus Visualization Partnership (CVP), a lecture by Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin on the computational framework that she and a team of researchers is developing at the Allosphere Research Facility which will enable the transformation of big and complex data.
Abstract
In this information-rich age where large amounts of both structured and unstructured data are being generated, processed, and transformed at ever increasing rates, how does one master control, working with these data as if it were intuitive and second nature? While new techniques for analyzing such “big data” are being developed based on data mining and machine learning, the need for displaying, navigating, and interacting with big data has not yet been well addressed. We believe that the large-scale integration of advances in visual and auditory displays, expressive and natural input, computer vision, and machine learning, joined with an overarching focus on bringing them together in a comprehensive interactive systems design, will drive a new era of enhanced human intuition, understanding, and control of complex simulation and data systems. We believe that one of the most difficult tasks of understanding big data is the ability to quickly find new patterns in voluminous amounts of information and to have the ability to retain in one’s memory the information from pages and pages of numbers. If there is a way to translate this information into tangible visual and audio taxonomies, we may be able to retain this information much more readily. In this presentation Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin discussed the computational framework that she and a team of researchers is developing at the AlloSphere Research Facility which will enable the transformation of big and complex data in the same way that a composer, artist or designer would unfold a work of art, or design a system.
Dr. Kuchera-Morin’s visit to UMD was sponsored by the Future of Information Alliance. This lecture was part of a seminar series sponsored in part by Google and Yahoo, Inc.
About the Speaker
Dr. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin is a composer, Professor of Media Arts and Technology and Music, and a researcher in multi-modal media systems content and facilities design. Her years of experience in digital media research led to the creation of a multi-million dollar sponsored research program for the University of California—the Digital Media Innovation Program—where she was chief scientist from 1998-2003. The culmination of JoAnn Kuchera-Morin’s creativity and research is the AlloSphere instrument, one of the largest media systems in the world. Professor Kuchera-Morin serves as the Director of the AlloSphere Research Facility located within the California NanoSystems Institute, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned a Ph.D. in composition from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.
