Information and Software Visualization (ISOVIS)

Our research

The vision of Information and Software Visualization (ISOVIS) is to attack the big data challenge by a combination of human-centered data analysis and interactive visualization for decision making. These research topics are highly relevant for academia and economy, as both science and industry make increasing use of data-intensive technologies.

Human-centered visualization deals with the development of interactive visualization techniques in consideration of user- and task-related information to explore and analyze complex data sets efficiently. Sensor data measured during the usage of a visualization (from brain-computer interfaces, eye trackers, etc.) may also be involved. This approach combines aspects of different research areas, such as information and scientific visualization, human-computer interaction, information design and cognition, but also the particular application field. From all subfields of visualization, we mainly focus on information visualization (InfoVis) which centers on the visualization of abstract data, e.g., hierarchical, networked, or symbolic information sources.

In contrast to visualization, data mining (DM) or machine learning (ML) are traditionally more computer-centered. But to address the big data challenge, we have to use the advantages of both approaches synergistically, which is the main feature of visual analytics (VA). Then, the analyst can focus his/her perceptual and cognitive capabilities on the analytical processes while using advanced computational methods to support and enhance the discovery process. The design and implementation of visual analytics tools is one of the most promising approaches to cope with the ever increasing amount of data produced every day and allows new insights and beneficial discoveries.

Our research expertise and interests cover the following areas:

• Text visualization and visual text analytics
• Explainable AI/ML using visualization
• Network visualization and visual network analytics
• Multidimensional data visualization
• Foundations of visualization
• Software visualization
• Human-computer interaction

In projects, we usually combine the expertise of people coming from several fields: from interactive visualization and visual analytics to machine learning and domain experts such as linguists or social scientists. We are always open to collaborate with external partners who provide challenging data sets together with interesting research questions.

Learn more at ISOVIS' web site.