Computational Statistics and Data Visualization

This book is the third volume of the Handbook of Computational Statistics and covers the field of Data Visualization. In line with the companion volumes, it contains a collection of chapters by experts in the field to present readers with an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of the state of the art. Data Visualization is an active area of application and research and this is a good time to gather together a summary of current knowledge. Graphic displays are often very effective at communicating information. They are also very often not effective at communicating information. Two important reasons for this state of affairs are that graphics can be produced with a few clicks of the mouse without any thought, and that the design of graphics is not taken seriously in many scientific textbooks. Some people seem to think that preparing good graphics is just a matter of common sense (in which case their common sense cannot be in good shape) and others believe that preparing graphics is a low-level task, not appropriate for scientific attention. This volume of the Handbook of Computational Statistics takes graphics for Data Visualization seriously.Data Visualization, Exploratory Graphics.

Trends and concerns in digital cartography

CISRG discussion paper ;

The experiment of Community involvement in a project planning within the historical context of Rome city

The PhD student proposes a method of community involvement in the planning and in the regeneration of historical centers, in support of the city’s accessibility and people’s well-being. The outcomes of the research are the analysis and the studies conducted over three years with people with sensory, physical and cognitive impairments on the sustainable mobility of historical spaces of Rome, thanks to an agreement between the Phd Student Start up Research Project financed by Sapienza, Università di Roma and the Municipality of Rome. Citizens are involved in the analysis process: they communicate their opinions, impressions, perceptions and needs related to the city experience through a dedicated help-desk, in return, they receive an advice service and a design project for their apartment that suits their necessities. Thanks also to several tours and surveys conducted with people with special needs, the phd student studies the human senses, the perception of the space, the physical barriers, natural and urban elements, with the aim to elaborate an accessibility-map of the City Center Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Sites. Citizens can contribute by sharing information about the status of the public spaces, or by giving advice on adaptive-ergonomic urban furnishings. The research aims to elaborate an application for mobile systems that identifies an interactive cartography of the city available for all the citizens, especially people with reduced mobility. The map, developed on multiple layers, also contains the layer made up of people’s emotions and their perceptions

Sustainable exhibit design: guidelines for designers of small scale interactive and travelling exhibits

This study was commissioned as part of Lincolnshire County Council’s FLOWS ‘2B’ Information and Symbols Project and UK match funding for this particular FLOWS Project has been provided by East Midlands Development Agency. The aim of FLOWS is to improve the sustainability of development in flood risk areas through development of ‘good practice’, by improved integration of flood risk information into decision-support systems for spatial planning and water management. FLOWS involves over 40 individual projects which are based in four Work Packages. Lincolnshire County Council is jointly leading Work Package 3 (Spatial Planning) and is also leading on Projects in Work Package 2 (Public Perception/Dissemination). This study has been produced as part of Lincolnshire County Council’s ‘FLOWS 2B Information and Symbols Project’ and in the wider context, is focussing on raising public awareness of flooding and flood risk by exploring innovative methods of disseminating information on the subject of flood risk to the public. This project involves the production of interactive exhibits aimed at raising the awareness of flood risk in Lincolnshire and is a partnership between Lincolnshire County Council and the School of Architecture at the University of Lincoln. A study focussing on creating sustainable exhibitions has been undertaken via the University of Lincoln that will directly inform the FLOWS exhibits. As detailed in the project brief, this study on Sustainable Exhibit Design will investigate best practice in sustainable exhibit design and produce a report setting out guidelines for designers of small interactive and travelling exhibits, guidelines which are directly applicable to the proposed FLOWS exhibit. The report will form a contribution to exhibition design knowledge through wider distribution via the University of Lincoln and FLOWS websites and a conference presentation

Techniques for Representation of Regional Clusters in Geographical In-formation Systems

This paper provides an overview of visualization techniques adapted for regional clusters presentation in Geographic Information Systems. Clusters are groups of companies and insti-tutions co-located in a specific geographic region and linked by interdependencies in providing a related group of products and services. The regional clusters can be visualized by projecting the data into two-dimensional space or using parallel coordinates. Cluster membership is usually represented by different colours or by dividing clusters into several panels of a grille display. Taking into consideration regional clusters requirements and the multilevel administrative division of the Romania’s territory, I used two cartograms: NUTS2- regions and NUTS3- counties, to illustrate the tools for regional clusters representation.Geographic Information Systems, Regional Clusters, Spatial Statistics, Geographic Data Visualisation

Museum Experience Design: A Modern Storytelling Methodology

In this paper we propose a new direction for design, in the context of the theme “Next Digital Technologies in Arts and Culture”, by employing modern methods based on Interaction Design, Interactive Storytelling and Artificial Intelligence. Focusing on Cultural Heritage, we propose a new paradigm for Museum Experience Design, facilitating on the one hand traditional visual and multimedia communication and, on the other, a new type of interaction with artefacts, in the form of a Storytelling Experience. Museums are increasingly being transformed into hybrid spaces, where virtual (digital) information coexists with tangible artefacts. In this context, “Next Digital Technologies” play a new role, providing methods to increase cultural accessibility and enhance experience. Not only is the goal to convey stories hidden inside artefacts, as well as items or objects connected to them, but it is also to pave the way for the creation of new ones through an interactive museum experience that continues after the museum visit ends. Social sharing, in particular, can greatly increase the value of dissemination

E-Commerce Project Management Implementation

It is defined the informatics application interface concept and it is presented the role of this one in software using. There are pointed out the interface characteristics and the factors which lead to their efficiency. The software interfaces are classified on the base of many criteria. There are defined evaluation indicators for interface complexity that build the picture regarding operation facility of informatics application and their adaptation to new problem requirements.complexity, interface, entity

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities