About this Research Topic
We live in an era where data, often multivariate in nature, plays a key role in aiding decision-making. The abundance and complexity of multivariate data, though, poses a significant challenge to both its analysis and communication. Data visualization serves as a powerful tool to overcome this challenge. By representing complex data in a visual form, data visualization facilitates the understanding of intricate relationships and patterns in behavior. In this context, multivariate data visualization techniques, such as scatter plots, parallel coordinates, and glyph-based visualizations, make it possible to portray the simultaneous interactions of multiple dimensions within a dataset.
Data glyphs are representations of multidimensional data samples that convey complex information through a selection of visual channels (Borgo et. al, 2013; Chung et. al, 2016). They have mainly been studied within the fields of information visualization and scientific visualization over the past decade and have demonstrated their usefulness in a variety of contexts. However, much is yet to be discovered about them.
The goal of this Research Topic is to bring data glyphs back to the attention of the research community. Recent advances in information visualization, particularly as concerns user-centered data representation and visualization, coupled with a rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) and task automation, present a unique opportunity to reconsider and expand our knowledge of data glyphs. Against this background, this Research Topic aims to promote research on, among other things, the aesthetics of data glyphs, contextual glyph design, knowledge-based glyph design, and the use of AI to create and evaluate glyphs. Furthermore, the Topic aims to foster research into the applications of glyphs in areas such as data art or infographics—applications which extant research has overlooked—and expand our knowledge of data glyphs design and creation.
We are particularly interested in contributions focusing on the following themes:
• knowledge-based glyph design and formal modeling
• AI-guided glyph design and co-creative systems
• glyph aesthetics, perception, and cognition
• glyph scalability and impact on perception
• glyph design and quality metrics evaluation
• the use of metaphors in glyphs
• the relationship between glyph design and application context
• the influence of user tasks on glyph design
• design practices in glyph creation
• the role of semantics and semiotics in glyph design.
We welcome all aspects of research on data glyphs, such as design studies, evaluation studies, studies of the aesthetics of glyphs in data art, application use cases, empirical studies on perception qualities, and the application of AI in the creation of glyphs, among others.
References
Borgo, R., Kehrer, J., Chung, D. H. S., Laramee, R. S., Hauser, H., Ward, M., & Chen, M. (2013) Glyph-Based Visualization: Foundations, Design Guidelines, Techniques, and Applications. Eurographics 2013, State of the Art Reports, pp. 39-63. Girona, Spain. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/conf/EG2013/stars/039-063
Chung, D. H. S., Archambault, D., Borgo, R., Edwards, D. J., Laramee, R. S., & Chen, M. (2016) How Ordered Is It? On the Perceptual Orderability of Visual Channels. Computer Graphics Forum, 35(3), pp. 131-140. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/cgf.12889
Data glyphs are representations of multidimensional data samples that convey complex information through a selection of visual channels (Borgo et. al, 2013; Chung et. al, 2016). They have mainly been studied within the fields of information visualization and scientific visualization over the past decade and have demonstrated their usefulness in a variety of contexts. However, much is yet to be discovered about them.
The goal of this Research Topic is to bring data glyphs back to the attention of the research community. Recent advances in information visualization, particularly as concerns user-centered data representation and visualization, coupled with a rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) and task automation, present a unique opportunity to reconsider and expand our knowledge of data glyphs. Against this background, this Research Topic aims to promote research on, among other things, the aesthetics of data glyphs, contextual glyph design, knowledge-based glyph design, and the use of AI to create and evaluate glyphs. Furthermore, the Topic aims to foster research into the applications of glyphs in areas such as data art or infographics—applications which extant research has overlooked—and expand our knowledge of data glyphs design and creation.
We are particularly interested in contributions focusing on the following themes:
• knowledge-based glyph design and formal modeling
• AI-guided glyph design and co-creative systems
• glyph aesthetics, perception, and cognition
• glyph scalability and impact on perception
• glyph design and quality metrics evaluation
• the use of metaphors in glyphs
• the relationship between glyph design and application context
• the influence of user tasks on glyph design
• design practices in glyph creation
• the role of semantics and semiotics in glyph design.
We welcome all aspects of research on data glyphs, such as design studies, evaluation studies, studies of the aesthetics of glyphs in data art, application use cases, empirical studies on perception qualities, and the application of AI in the creation of glyphs, among others.
References
Borgo, R., Kehrer, J., Chung, D. H. S., Laramee, R. S., Hauser, H., Ward, M., & Chen, M. (2013) Glyph-Based Visualization: Foundations, Design Guidelines, Techniques, and Applications. Eurographics 2013, State of the Art Reports, pp. 39-63. Girona, Spain. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/conf/EG2013/stars/039-063
Chung, D. H. S., Archambault, D., Borgo, R., Edwards, D. J., Laramee, R. S., & Chen, M. (2016) How Ordered Is It? On the Perceptual Orderability of Visual Channels. Computer Graphics Forum, 35(3), pp. 131-140. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/cgf.12889
Keywords: data glyphs, multivariate data visualization, glyph design, glyph creation
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
