Visualization Steering Committee Mission Statement

About this Document

This mission statement complements the IEEE VIS Charter by articulating the guiding principles, governance philosophy, and operating values of the Visualization Steering Committee. Formal governance procedures, committee authorities, appointment processes, and organizational responsibilities are defined in the IEEE VIS Charter.

This document serves two purposes. First, it describes the enduring mission, values, and governance approach of the Visualization Steering Committee. Second, it documents the transitional governance structure established following the ReVISe 1.1 process and the merger of the previous Visualization Steering Committee and Visualization Executive Committee. While the mission and values are intended to remain stable over time, the transitional structures described herein will evolve as the committee continues to mature.

Part I. Mission and Governance Principles

Purpose and Scope

The Visualization Steering Committee provides strategic oversight for IEEE VIS and supports the long-term health, integrity, and evolution of the visualization research community. The committee is responsible for guiding governance and policy decisions, ensuring continuity across conference cycles, and representing the community’s interests in a transparent, accountable, and communicative manner.

The committee serves as a steward of the conference’s long-term success and community well-being. It works to ensure that IEEE VIS continues to evolve in response to emerging research directions, community needs, and organizational challenges while maintaining continuity and institutional knowledge across conference cycles.

Roles and Responsibilities

The committee is responsible for:

  • Providing strategic oversight of the conference and its long-term direction.
  • Establishing and maintaining policies related to governance, publications, and ethics.
  • Supporting the selection and continuity of conference leadership roles.
  • Ensuring alignment with community needs and values.
  • Soliciting and evaluating bids for future IEEE VIS conferences.
  • Overseeing significant multi-year changes to conference structure, policies, and organization.

In carrying out these responsibilities, the committee prioritizes clear documentation of decisions, rationale, and expectations, and seeks to maintain open communication with both conference leadership and the broader community.

The committee supports empowering conference organizers to experiment and innovate while maintaining continuity, oversight, and long-term strategic alignment.

Core Values

The committee operates according to the following principles:

Transparency. Decisions, processes, and rationale are clearly documented and communicated to the community in a timely and accessible manner.

Effective Communication. The committee prioritizes clear, consistent, and proactive communication, both internally and externally, to ensure alignment, reduce ambiguity, and support informed participation.

Accountability. The committee acts in service of the community and is responsive to feedback.

Inclusivity. The committee supports diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and research approaches.

Continuity. Institutional knowledge and long-term stability are actively maintained.

Fairness. Processes and decisions are guided by equitable and consistent standards.

Community Participation. Committee roles are temporary and selected in part by the community to enable broad participation in conference leadership and governance.

Decision-Making and Governance

Decisions are made through discussion and consensus where possible, with formal votes conducted when needed. The committee ensures that decision-making processes are clearly communicated and that outcomes, along with their rationale, are documented and shared.

All substantive decisions are recorded in official meeting minutes. The committee distinguishes between informal coordination and formal decision-making to maintain clarity, accountability, and transparency.

Communication Practices

The committee is committed to clear, consistent, and effective communication.

  • Internal coordination may occur through meetings and asynchronous communication channels to support timely collaboration.
  • Formal decisions are made during scheduled meetings and documented in official minutes.
  • Meeting agendas, outcomes, and action items are communicated clearly to ensure alignment and follow-through.
  • Public updates are shared with the community through appropriate channels, including website updates, meeting minutes, and blog posts.

Transparency and Community Engagement

The committee will make meeting minutes and key decisions publicly available, subject to appropriate considerations. It is committed to proactively communicating its work, decisions, and guiding principles to the broader visualization community.

The committee also seeks to engage with the community by providing clear avenues for feedback and ensuring that communication is accessible and inclusive.

Policy Development and Oversight

The committee is responsible for developing and maintaining policies relevant to the conference and community. This includes areas such as publication practices, ethical standards, governance procedures, and emerging topics such as the use of generative artificial intelligence in research.

Policies will be clearly documented and communicated to support consistent understanding and application across the community.

Review and Evolution

This mission statement is a living document and will be reviewed periodically. The committee will revisit its structure, processes, and governance approach as the conference and community evolve.

Part II. Transition to the Unified Visualization Steering Committee

Transition Context

The governance structure described in this section reflects recommendations arising from the ReVISe 1.1 process, which examined organizational practices, communication, decision-making structures, and community representation within IEEE VIS.

The ReVISe 1.1 discussions identified several opportunities for improvement, including the need to streamline governance, reduce bottlenecks in decision-making, better empower conference organizers, improve transparency around leadership roles and processes, and strengthen continuity across conference cycles.

A central recommendation was to merge the previous Visualization Steering Committee and Visualization Executive Committee into a single governance body. This unified structure is intended to simplify coordination, clarify responsibilities, improve communication, and provide stronger continuity across conference planning and long-term strategic oversight.

Transitional Committee Composition

The transitional committee structure reflects a balanced and stable path forward informed by the ReVISe 1.1 recommendations. As part of the transition, the current chair’s term has been extended by one additional year to support continuity and knowledge transfer during the merger process.

The committee currently includes:

  • Vidya Setlur (Chair) – one year remaining
  • Matt Brehmer – one year remaining
  • Leilani Battle – two years remaining
  • Michael Sedlmair – two years remaining
  • Tatiana von Landesberger – two years remaining
  • Christoph Garth – three years remaining
  • Tim Dwyer – four years remaining

In addition, the structure includes one new community-elected member and one new appointed member.

This composition seeks to balance continuity, experience, geographic diversity, and gender representation. Members represent the United States, Europe, and Asia, providing broad international perspectives on conference governance.

Transition Plan and Rotation Schedule

The staggered terms are designed to ensure continuity while allowing for gradual renewal of the committee.

The resulting rotation schedule is as follows:

  • 2027: two members rotate off the committee.
  • 2028: three members rotate off the committee.
  • 2029: one member rotates off the committee.
  • 2030: one member rotates off the committee.

This rotation avoids large single-year turnover and supports continuity in leadership and institutional knowledge.

The year 2028 will serve as a natural checkpoint to revisit the balance between elected and appointed roles and to assess the effectiveness of the committee structure and governance model.

This composition reflects the transitional governance structure established during the merger of the previous Visualization Steering Committee and Visualization Executive Committee. The long-term committee structure and appointment model are defined in the IEEE VIS Charter.