Recent Developments
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The Spring VAC Meeting is in the Washington, DC suburbs at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory this May 20-22, 2008. Suzanne Weghorst, Onur Mete, and I are showing off a resource allocation game for first responder coordinators to play given different authority and responsibility levels.
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Onur Mete and I are presenting a paper poster at the 2008 2008 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security during May 12-13, 2008 in the Boston, MA area.
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Three days at the semi-annual Visualization and Analytics Consortium Meeting during November 13-15, 2007
in Richland, Washington let me show off our latest RimSim version which has been refactored to work well with a multi-user agent framework. The PARVAC RimSim contribution
is documented in a poster (31 MB) we shared with sixty attendees of the meeting.
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Five days at the INFORMS annual conference in Seattle during November 3-7, 2007 gave me the opportunity to interact with optimization mathematicians, game theory investigators, and simulation specialists. Suzanne Weghorst and I presented our RimSim application to a small community of emergency response logicians.
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Five days at the 2007 InfoVis/Vis/VAST Conference Series during Oct 26-Nov 1, 2007 in Sacramento gave me the opportunity to participate in the Doctoral Colloquium and catch up with all the latest research and developments in the information visualization analysis and presentation fields. Of note was the groundswell of public interest in socially-mediated infovis discussions accessible via the Web.
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Four days at Michigan Tech`s Civil and Environmental Engineering department during August 22-25, 2007
let me ponder the application of agent-based simulation frameworks to emergency response planning and training modules. My host, Amlan Mukherjee,
provided spirited debate and the opportunity to hike the Keweenaw Peninsula and sail Portage Lake. I look forward to integrating and helping improve the framework obtained.
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I finished my Masters in Industrial Engineering degree on June 8, 2007. My focus was on human-computing interfaces with a specialty
on virtual reality. As a result, my transcript is guaranteed to be unique with a mix of
industrial engineering (IND E), computer science (CSE), and technical communications (T C) specific to my interests in computer-mediated
communication interfaces.
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Three days at the Science + Society Conference during January 19-21, 2007
in Boston drove home many concerns about the future of science with regards to the awareness and coordination of society's participation.
From astronomy to medical sciences to earth sciences, data is coming in from the far reaches of the globe and yet the numbers of
people competent to manage and investigate it is minimal. Are we funding science properly? How can we better invite the general public
to go along for the ride?
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A week spent between the Purdue University and Indiana University campuses in early December 2006 reaffirmed my memories of the hospitable
midwest and let me meet with twenty different project groups working on visual analytics related work. Visualization,
information processing, agent simulations, and distributed cognition analysis are just some of the areas covered by the trip.
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Two months at a PNNL-sponsored NVAC internship in October and November 2006 let me collaborate with visual analytics scientists,
administrators and other RVAC interns. A focus on text analytics tools and methodologies, human perception and distributed
cognition in a peaceful desert setting with friendly folks made for an unforgettable experience. So many discussions with thoughtful
researchers at PNNL and the larger community attending four excellent conferences during the stint:
- VAC Fall Consortium Meeting - Richland, WA, October 4-5, 2006
- InfoVis Conference - Baltimore, MD, October 29-31, 2006
- Visualization Conference - Baltimore, MD, November 1-3, 2006
- VAST Conference - Baltimore, MD, November 1-3, 2006
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At the 2006 Games for Change Conference
at the New School in New York City during June 27-28, 2006, I participated in discussions looking at suggesting social change
through game play. Although ecological games were only a small percentage of the conference focus, the implementations prototyped
showed great promise in changing consumer behavior via awareness. Those educators or environmentalists looking to provide
environmental awareness to the masses should definitely consider the video game medium as a conduit of progressive messages. I
enjoyed the depth of critical thinking and yet optimism provided by conference attendees.
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Three days at the Penn State NEVAC-GeoVISTA center during August 6-8, 2006 let me engage in meaningful discussions regarding the temporal and geospatial presentation of data as it relates to visual analytics. Chris Weaver's Improvise software quickly became the focus of my interests. Chris' open sharing of ideas and his collegial friendship which he provided in those emotional days after my dear cat's death made the trip more than just a work and academic exercise.
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At the 2006 VAC Consortium Meeting at Stanford
University during May 22-25, 2006, I participated in member organization presentations aimed at building
consensus and collaboration as to our approach of applying visual analytics to the pressing information
age issue of information overload (think pollution early in the industrial age).
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At EclipseCon 2006 in Santa Clara, CA during March 19-24, our
software development team received an impressive upgrade in understanding where the sophistication of open source
development rationale and methodology has reached. Open source methods for commodity software are thriving through
a transparent community process. Having spent a day side-tripping up to the
DigitBarn Computer Museum, and realizing how open source
was an absolute necessity back in the days of mainframe time sharing, I'm committed to supporting open source as
much as possible during the day job.
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As the University of Washington was awarded a Regional Visualization and
Analysis Center by the National Visualization and Analysis Center, I attended the RVAC kick-off meetings in
Salt Lake City on January 5-7, 2006. The centers will perform research and work on an education plan for applying
visual analytics science to all aspects of emergency response to better perform under conditions of urgency and
stress. The PARVAC (Pacific Area RVAC) will connect academic, government, and industry centers around the
Pacific Rim in collaborating on visual analytics tools and their use.
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At the OpenMI Workshop in Munich, Germany on September 27-29,
2005, I participated in a discussion entitled Experiences with OpenMI that looks at how earth science simulation
proponents (specifically hydrology modelers) are using the new, popular European OpenMI (open modeling interface)
specification to link models for more complex analyses.
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At the Python National Convention in Washington DC, during March 22-25, 2005, I ran a paper presentation panel looking at the use of Python visualization in improving application usability.
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Six months in New Zealand helped me put a dissertation prospectus together.
I provide it on-line as
Collaborative 4-D Virtual Environments for Time-based Consensus.
Time to dive in. I fully expect this document to change often over the next nine months.
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At the August 2004 Virtual Worlds Consortium, Mark Stoermer and I presented an investigation of undersea earthquake data below the Endeavour Ridge in the northeast Pacific Ocean. A GeoWall presentation of the data provided the audience a unique visualization for thinking about the timing and distribution of quakes caused by tectonic plate interaction. A picture here. We presented Amazon basin
remote sensing data as well on the GeoWall to highlight land use patterns.
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From October 15, 2003 through April 15, 2004, I provided consulting services to the HIT Lab
located at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tasks included working
on an Access Grid node for potential around the clock connectivity
between the HIT Lab US and HIT Lab NZ and building a GeoWall node
for investigation of 4-D earth science datasets. Formal conference presentations included:
- Geographical Information Systems and Augmented Reality: A Keynote
Address, 15th Annual Colloquium of the Spatial Information Research
Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, December 2, 2003
- Information Visualisation Techniques for the GeoWall: A Workshop,
Australasian Symposium on Information Visualisation, University of
Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, January 24, 2004.
- Information Visualisation Techniques for the GeoWall: Emerging Technologies Exhibit,
APEC Science Ministers' Meeting, Christchurch, New Zealand,
March 10-11, 2004.
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At the August 2003 Virtual Worlds Consortium, I demonstrated the first application
built using our home-grown OpenGL-based blue visualization engine. The
application allowed a participant to drive an underwater autonomous vehicle by
using hand gestures on top of the HI-SPACE table, which also presented a blue-based visualization. The
application control panel allowed each pilot to change boyancy, direction, thrust,
and perspective with easy gestures atop the HI-SPACE table. |
At the October 2002 Virtual Worlds Consortium, I presented the first application prototype for BlueSpace, an
ocean-centric perspective of sharing data and experience in a Web-based, multi-participant environment. Based
on GreenSpace's ideals for a shared electronic meetingspace, BlueSpace presented a virtual marine life tank
networked between a Java 3D desktop application and an ARToolKit augmented reality rendition.
A picturehere.
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During March 20-28, 2003, I worked with two PhD candidates at the Information and Communications University
in Taejon, South Korea. After their successful visit to the HIT Lab during Summer 2001 to connect their
ATLAS high volume, multi-user communications package to
our Virtual Playground 3-D visualization client, we both decided to focus on a C/C++ implementation whereby ATLAS
would connect to our BlueSpace visualization engine (code named andouin) in similar fashion to GreenSpace
communications. Short trip journal here.
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On January 22, 2003, I submitted my qualifying exam answers to a committee of four faculty members. One
answer is presented here entitled Building a Collaboration Machine. On Februrary
3, 2003, I successfully defended my answers and as a result passed the qualifying exam.
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Mark Billinghurst and I presented Kiyoshi Kiyokawa's Occlusive Optical See-Through Displays in a Collaborative Setup
application for five days within the Emerging Technologies show floor at SIGGRAPH 2002 in San Antonio, Texas.
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Mark Stoermer and I showed off our NEPTUNE project Java 3D and Magic Book user interfaces to the ThinkQuest Live
audience in Seattle, WA. ThinkQuest programs provide a highly motivating opportunity for
students and educators to work collaboratively in teams to learn as they create Web-based learning materials that teach others. See a picture from the show.
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| During the upswing of the third wave of HIT Lab successes, I participated in a team of seven researchers
in presenting the ARToolKit to an eager Millenium Hotel crowd at SIGGRAPH 1999 in
Los Angeles. There is nothing better than seeing a lab come together and put its best face forward. Kudos to Dr. Kato and Mark Billinghurst
for providing this source of pride to the rest of us. |
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Back by popular demand, the HIT Lab creshendo culminated in a fantastic roll out of the ARToolkit-based
Magic Book demonstration at SIGGRAPH 2000. New Orleans was at the peak of her
glory as was the lab. The plight of the Little Princess touched many a heart through it's interactive, augmented storytelling experience at the
show.
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The VSB is an approach to Science & Resource management that reflects a modern approach to apply a common philosophy to all river basin modeling such that input, process, and outputs can be standardized and solutions associated with the modeling effort can be reused across basins.
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The CEV develops its own graphics engine that specializes in the attractive and functional presentation
of earth science data within 3-D and 4-D applications. Built with open products that allow for delivery
to Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX based machines, the blue engine focuses on easy incorporation of popular
geographic data formats into the latest visual techniques the computer graphics community has to offer.
GPU-based number crunching, shaders, and procedural-based visualizations are all explored within the
engine.
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Current Project: PRISM ( Puget sound RegIonal Synthesis Model)
PRISM is a cross-campus project to build a Virtual Puget Sound that will bring all people together on issues of Puget Sound in terms of ecology, education, and outreach. I am working on collaboration tools, learning center,
active pages and 3-D visualizations of PRISM model output.
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Current Project:
NEPTUNE ( North East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments)
The goal of NEPTUNE is to establish a coherent system of high speed, submarine communication-control links using fiber-optic cables to connect remote, interactive experimental sites in the northeast Pacific Ocean (off the coast of Washington State) with land-based research laboratories and classrooms. |
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Netgate Mall is a multi-user shopping world to be shared by people using internet connected computers. Netgate Mall brings the successful distributed architecture of
GreenSpace to the internet. We hope to scale Netgate Mall use to hundreds of simultaneous participants and have interesting things to do there. The Virtual Playground is currently a science and technology museum demonstration in Kaoshung, Taiwan.
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Past Project:
Digital Anatomist
The long term goal of the Digital Anatomist project is an anatomy information system that is available from any desktop computer on the network (including the Web). I am working to build better visualizations of the semantic anatomy database (2D and 3-D visualizations) as well as investigate the Virtual Playground as a platform for collaboration during virtual dissection and assembly. |
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OWorld: the Biota 3 Conference
The conference was a very good education in the latest work where 3-D Virtual Environments meet Artificial
Life. Take a look at the OWorld Web site. I am
very interested in supporting the biota.org efforts. Creating virtual environments by hand is a tiring process
and limited by human imagination. I'd love to grow some where the computer can do the work and I just provide certain
guidelines and make choices between alternatives.
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A Past Project: Teachers/Pathfinders VR Web Pages
The Teachers/Pathfinders VR Web Pages Project is a site for Teachers to visit who are curious about the building of virtual worlds.
My Background
I am currently wearing three hats at the University of Washington. I teach as a Lecturer within the Industrial Engineering department on campus. I study and write as an Industrial Engineering PhD candidate. And, I work as a Research Scientist, a position I have held since the start of 1998. My research position is best represented within these pages though I plan on making my PhD journey an open book here as well (as things unfold).
In December 1997 I finished up my Masters of Science in Computer Science at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) through Rensselaer-Hartford in Hartford, CT. I worked as an Information Scientist for 5 years at The Travelers Insurance Company (TIC) where I was blessed with being able to work on 5 technology projects with 60 bright and creative peers. Together, we were a collaborative success as we shared research and insight to roll out technology in a timely and cost-effective fashion. At one point within TIC, I became the product manager for Lotus Notes which is as much cultureware as software. I began to live the excitement of technology-supported collaboration. That excitement continues to thrive as I have moved on to working with collaboration on the internet, using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and the Java 3D API to deliver easy to use, 3 dimensional, collaboratory software to all of us.
The VRML standard should take advantage of the best graphics, networking, multimedia, and browser capabilities we can develop (see Mark Pesce's paper). In keeping up with the lab's mission, I focus on getting VRML, Java 3D, and any other similar or related technologies out to the masses. Teaching how to use VRML, discussing the implications of a VRML site for the 28.8 bps modem connected audience, and maintaining a lab VRML notebook for others to see the lab's work are some of my responsibilities within the lab. With this knowledge gained, I hope to help make the HIT lab's New Media site top notch.
Eclipse
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I enjoy using the Eclipse IDE for Java and C/C++ development of 3-D, multiuser virtual
environments for Linux, OSX, and Windows. Check out the
eclipse home page.
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Atmosphere
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For Web 3D interactive spaces, I enjoyed using the Atmosphere platform from Adobe while in development. Atmospherians is an all-planet community who believe in 3-D Cyberspace and used Atmosphere to create visual on-line places to meet.
Check out the Atmospherian's Gallery if you have installed the Atmosphere plug-in..
The Atmosphere code base was rolled into Adobe's Acrobat product line. Embedded 3-D objects in Web documents is nice, but it doesn't enable the same sense of on-line community directly.
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