Alan Dix - research topics

Interactive visualisation

I'm particularly interested in the effects of time and interactivity on information visualisation. One facet of this is the concept of temporal fusion, the use of time to accomplish data fusion

Geoff Ellis and I have been working on adding of interaction to standard paper respresentations to generate new interactive visualisations. For an example of this see the Java demo of dancing histograms.

More recently Geoff and I have worked on using random sampling to help visualisation of large datasets.

See also my pages on:

temporal issues in interface design including delays and related issues

in praise of randomness - the ubiquity and power of randomness in computing

little things matter - issues in the design of individual interface widgets.

Some papers

• G. Ellis, E. Bertini and A. Dix (2005).
  The Sampling Lens: making sense of saturated visualisation Proceedings of CHI'2005 , ACM Press. pp. ????.
  abstract and links
• G. Ellis and A. Dix (2004).
  Quantum Web Fields And Molecular Meanderings - Visualising Web Visitations.
  Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces - AVI2004, M. F. Costabile (ed.), Gallipoli (Lecce), Italy, ACM Press. pp. 197-200
  outline and links || draft paper (PDF, 114K)
• G. Ellis and A. Dix (2004).
  Visualising Web Visitations: a probabilistic approach.
  Proceedings of IV04, London, UK, IEEE Computing Press. (in press)
  abstract and refs | draft paper (PDF, 65K)
• A. Dix, J. Sheridan, S. Lock, G. Ellis (2004).
  absenT Presence.
  Position paper for EQUATOR Record and Reeuse workshop, UCL, London, 12-13 February 2003..
  abstract and links || full paper (PDF, 158K)
• G. Ellis and A. Dix (2002).
  density control through random sampling: an architectural perspective.
  Proceedings of International Conference on Information Visualisation­ IV02, London, UK, IEEE Press. pp. 82-90.
  abstract and references
• A. Dix and G. Ellis (2002).
  By chance - enhancing interaction with large data sets through statistical sampling.
  Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces ­ AVI2002, Trento, Italy, ACM Press. pp.167-176.
  abstract, contents and references || draft paper (pdf, 288K)
• A. Dix, R. Beale and A. Wood (2000).
  Architectures to make Simple Visualisations using Simple Systems.
  Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces - AVI2000, ACM Press, pp. 51-60.
  abstract || pdf (585K) || slides (PPT,851K).
• A. Dix and G. Ellis (1998).
  Starting Simple - adding value to static visualisation through simple interaction.
  Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces ­ AVI98, Eds. T. Catarci, M. F. Costabile, G. Santucci and L. Tarantino. L'Aquila, Italy, ACM Press. pp. 124-134.
  abstract, text and demo (also powerpoint slides)
• Alan Dix (1998).
  Interactive Querying - locating and discovering information
  Second Workshop on Information Retrieval and Human Computer Interaction, Glasgow, 11th September 1998.
  extended abstract || full paper (Adobe pdf)
• A. J. Dix (1996).
  Closing the Loop: modelling action, perception and information.
  AVI'96 - Advanced Visual Interfaces, Eds. T. Catarci, M. F. Costabile, S. Levialdi and G. Santucci. Gubbio, Italy, ACM Press. pp. 20-28.
  abstract || full paper (compressed postscript)
• A. Dix (1996).
  Time, space and interaction.
  Proceeding of FADIVA 3, Ed. I. Catarci. Gubbio, Italy, University of Rome. pp. 99-103.
  full paper (html)