Data with a cause: Visualization for policy change
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11
14:00-15:40
Location: AUDITORIUM

Moderator: Moritz Stefaner
Panelists: Greg McInerny, Scott David, Toby Green, and Tariq Khokhar

We experience an increasing demand for data visualization in the context of NGOs, policy making and open data. What are the specific challenges that organizations like the World Bank, OECD, or the World Economic Forum face when publishing reports and data sets? What is the role that data visualization can play in these contexts? And how can we make an actual difference in important questions, with data visualization?

Funding Opportunities for V.I.S. Research in Horizon 2020
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
14:00-15:40
Location: SCENE C

Moderator: Jörn Kohlhammer
Panelists: Philippe Quevauviller, Teresa de Martino, William Wong, Daniel Keim, Brian Fisher

IEEE VIS comes to Europe for the first time in 25 years. In the same year, the new framework program for research in the EU, called Horizon 2020, had its first calls targeting a wide range of topics related to ICT, including visualization. The breadth of calls and sub-programs can be truly overwhelming, and it is hard to get an overview of the opportunities for researchers in information visualization, visual analytics, and scientific visualization. There is also the possibility to include partners from outside the EU, called international collaboration in Horizon 2020, which should be of interest for participants of VIS beyond Europe. This panel aims to give an overview of the current EU funding opportunities in visualization. Two EU representatives from Brussels, Belgium, will present, who are or were overlooking projects with a visualization and visual analytics emphasis. They will introduce two areas of EU funding in Horizon 2020: the specific security research unit, and the broader, basic research-oriented FET area. In addition, invited project coordinators of EU projects will give examples for successful collaboration or potential pitfalls during projects. In addition to the panelists representatives of international funding agencies will give their views as part of the discussion on international collaboration.

Challenges in Financial Visualization
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
16:15-17:55
Location: SCENE B

Moderator: Richard Brath
Panelists: Lancelot Comrie, David Keller, Elaine Knuth, and Eugene Sorenson

Financial visualization has existed for more than 100 years. Ongoing growth of financial markets increases the frequency, complexity and scale of data while users need to discern meaningful insights for many different types of tasks and objectives. This panel brings together four established practioners from the financial industry who use visualization tools every day. Each works with a different type of financial firm (buy-side, sell-side, advisory, information provider) bringing a unique perspective to their challenges. This panel represents an opportunity for VisWeek participants to learn more about the challenges of financial visualizations; understand real-world constraints, tasks and usecases; and identify new potential application areas.

Bridging the Gap: Translating Perception and Cognition Expertise into Visualization Research and Practice
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13
10:30-12:10
Location: STUDIO A-B

Moderator: Georges-Pierre Bonneau
Panelists: Rita Borgo, Brian Fisher, Michael Gleicher, Timo Ropinski, and Colin Ware

http://www-evasion.imag.fr/~Georges-Pierre.Bonneau/PanelVisWeek2014.html

In principle, perceptual and cognitive science form an important foundation for visualization and visual analytics. However, while some basic principles (e.g. color contrast, pre-attentive popout) have had significant impact on visualization practice, the application of the sciences of perception and cognition has been slow. A simplistic view might expect that the visualization community should be able to mine the extensive literature of perceptual and cognitive science for ideas to influence and improve our work. In practice, such direct translation seems rare. There are many potential causes of this. For example, there may be differences in goals (understanding people vs. making visualizations), differences in methodology (reductionist empiricism vs. wanting realistic applications), etc. In this panel, we propose to explore why the translation of perceptual and cognitive science into visualization research and practice is so challenging. While it would be unrealistic to expect ready made solutions we are deeply convinced that a panel on this topic structured around the following questions will help fostering research in visualization and visual analytics.

2D VS 3D
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13
16:15-17:55
Location: AUDITORIUM

Moderator: Robert S. Laramee
Panelists: Chuck Hansen, Silvia Miksch, Klaus Mueller, Bernhard Preim, Colin Ware

http://cs.swan.ac.uk/~csbob/research/panel/laramee142Dvs3D.pdf

Most of us agree that visualization design is a critical aspect of any visualization research. There are many different aspects to the topic of visualization design including: data characteristics and type, data enhancement, visualization mapping, e.g., choice of shape, color, opacity, and texture etc. Another critical aspect is the spatial domain in which the final visualization is presented. In general, 1, 2, or 3 spatial dimensions are used when designing a visualization.
The vast majority of visualizations in the literature reside in 2 or 3 spatial dimensions. However, there are differing opinions as to what constitutes an ideal spatial dimensionality when it comes to visualization design. Some believe that 3D space is preferable since it may convey more information than 2D. However, others believe that 2D is preferable because it may result in less occlusion and complexity. In this panel, we discuss precisely this topic: What is the best spatial dimensionality for a given visualization?

For Young Visualization Researchers: Words of Wisdom
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
8:30-10:10
Location: STUDIO A-B

Moderator: Georges Grinstein
Panelists: Sheelagh Carpendale, Alfred Inselberg, Jim Foley, Ari Kaufman, Theresa-Marie Rhyne, Bernice Rogowitz, and Ben Shneiderman

http://ivpr.oicweave.org/share/VIS2014panel/index.html

This panel is motivated by Christopher Hutchins' letters to a young contrarian*. Each panelist will discuss their views on research. Some will suggest-high impact areas; some will discuss how to select a mentor; some will provide guidance on path choices. Each will offer words of wisdom. This panel will be slightly different than other panels. There are seven panelists. They are Sheelagh Carpendale, Al Inselberg, Jim Foley, Ari Kaufman, Theresa-Marie Rhyne, Bernice Rogowitz and Ben Shneiderman. I, Georges Grinstein, will moderate. The panelists and moderator are quite diverse and together bring over 350 years of experience (8 x about 45 average = 360). Each panelist will speak for 5 minutes. The panelists will then answer questions that have been submitted ahead of time. These questions will be grouped and prioritized. The questions can be targeted toward a single panelist or several. The panelists will also take questions from the audience.
We want to inspire you as an evolving researcher to choose a path that leads you not just to challenging and impacting research but also to an extremely satisfying, engaging and impacting life.
* Hitchens, Christopher (2005). Letters to a young contrarian. Basic Books. ISBN-13: 9780465030330.