design lab amy fox gordon research grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Read Next

Design Lab Design@large Wednesday Philip Guo

Design at Large Tackles Human-Centered Computational Tools

WHAT IS DESIGN@LARGE? A new wave of societal challenges, cultural values, and technological advancements is…

UC San Diego Health Launches New Center To Spur Patient-Centered Technologies

UC San Diego Health Launches New Center to Spur Patient-Centered Technologies

On behalf of UCSD Design Lab and the Center for Health Design, we’re excited to support the launch of this collaborative innovation ecosystem designing healthcare with our community. From tele-monitoring patients with diabetes to using artificial intelligence to prevent sepsis, the newly launched Center for Health Innovation at UC San Diego Health will seek to develop, test and commercialize technologies that make a real, measurable difference in the lives and wellbeing of patients.

The new Center for Health Innovation will be located on the La Jolla campus of UC San Diego. Collaborators will include the UC San Diego Design Lab, Qualcomm Institute and Jacobs School of Engineering. It is modeled after the University Health Network’s (UHN) Techna Institute, jointly located within the organization’s hospital sites and at the University of Toronto, and has designed numerous products now used in hospitals and clinics.

“Doctors, nurses and medical teams know best where there are existing technology gaps in patient care,” said Christopher Longhurst, MD, chief information officer, UC San Diego Health. “With our proximity to the health and biotech sector as well as the cross-border region, the number of collaborative opportunities are immense.”

To learn more about the Center for Health Innovation, visit healthinnovation.ucsd.edu

Design Lab Students Swarm CHI Conference in Denver

In May, many UC San Diego Design Lab members and students swarmed the largest human-computer interaction conference in the world, ACM CHI 2017. Affiliated with ACM SIGCHI, the premier international society for professionals, academics and students who are interested in human-technology and human-computer interaction (HCI), the conference brings together people from multiple disciplines and cultures to explore new ways to practice, develop and improve methods and systems in HCI.

“I love the mix of people at CHI—chatting with people making new sensor technologies, new theoretical approaches, new architectural construction techniques -- it has incredible diversity but is still brought together with a common set of ideas and expectations,” said former Design Lab Fellow Derek Lomas, who presented at the conference.

This year, the mega-HCI conference, which was sponsored by tech-industry giants such as Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo! was held in Denver near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Organizers selected the site, which is full of scenic trees, mountains and valleys to serve as a motivation for the theme of “Motivate, Innovate, Inspire.”
Bennett Peji

Meet Designer-in-Residence Bennett Peji

When Bennett Peji was asked to join The Design Lab as a Designer-in-Residence, he immediately said yes. “It was a natural fit,” he explains. “The Design Lab is composed of so many talented people, both in leadership and in its students, who have tremendous technical abilities, but also a big heart for using that expertise for the greater good.” Peji works with the Community team at The Design Lab, working on ways to define what it means for San Diego to be a global city. He is the Chief Innovation Officer at several businesses and Chairman of California Humanities. “Seeing us all collectively as being a very unique region in the world is one distinguishing factor in developing the opportunities that we have here. My role is to be a connector and a bridge builder to organizations who are like-minded. Like-minded in terms of seeing our region holistically and working for more ways to collaborate and create greater economic opportunities and access.”

Peji is a walking example of practicing what he preaches in order to present San Diego as a unique, diverse, global city. He emphasizes that it is not enough to just be welcoming. We must be truly inclusive. “The real work is to include and empower the folks who have never been to the table, who don't think and act and see the world the way we do, so that we can all have a more profound way of looking at the problems.” To do this, Peji has not been afraid to be the one swimming upstream. “We all have to find our way in this world called America and do the best we can. But since I’ve been on this journey for so long now, it has become so clear that it is not about assimilating [but instead] finding your own voice and expressing your own unique and distinct identity.”
Sd Design Trek Ucsd

Design Trek Brings San Diego Design Community Together

This past March, SD Design Trek took students and early-UX career professionals on a three-day showcase of design companies in San Diego to gain a firsthand look at what the local design community has to offer. The March 4 kickoff and showcase took place just down the hall from the Design Lab, in Atkinson Hall’s Auditorium. 

The event commenced with the words of keynote speaker, Amish Desai, who graduated from UCSD in 2003 with a Cognitive Science HCI degree and currently serves as the VP of Experiences at Moonshot. “[The talk] was about being design minded, in terms of design being much more than a craft and is actually a driver for business growth,” he says. “The idea is to instill some lessons I learned in the last 17 years as to why the importance of design is not just beautiful things but is also about doing experiments and making, driving cultural changes, creating experiences, analytics, and having business rigor.”
Ucsd Design Lab Don Norman

Don Norman’s Favorite Book, Famous UC writers on their favorite books

Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Victor Papanek
“The first sentence in this book is ‘There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few of them.’ I read this book in the 1980s, and it had a huge impact..."
Back To Top