Daniel Filonik

BCompSc (Hons) (Media Informatics) Munich

Making Data Interactive: Exploring User-oriented Interfaces for Data Composition and Visualisation

Technological advances have led to an influx of affordable hardware that supports sensing, computation, communication, and actuation. This hardware is increasingly deployed in public and private spaces, tracking and aggregating a wealth of real-time environmental data. As a result, vast amounts of information can be accumulated and processed at any given time. However, this technological progress has created a need for research to reap corresponding benefits from the collected data. The complexity involved in the collection, combination, and manipulation of real-time data streams is often prohibitive, limiting their use to selected experts. Existing work in sensor network protocols and middleware approaches is directed at overcoming challenges of limited computational resources, energy constraints, mobility and variable environmental conditions. By contrast, the research proposed here focuses on higher-level abstractions of data. It aims to explore novel means of data presentation and interaction in order to open up the technology towards a broader audience. With the collective interpretation capacity of end-users, such systems will allow fine-grained inquiry and promote better understanding of complex processes in our immediate surroundings.

The QUT Science and Engineering Centre (SEC) presents an ideal use case to showcase the potential of ubiquitous technologies as they are beginning to enter our everyday environments. The SEC is equipped with an array of advanced environmental and built environment sensors, monitoring various aspects of building performance, energy intake and generation. In addition, the SEC is host to a number of scientific groups across different IT and Engineering disciplines that act as data producers. In addition to its capacity as data producer, the SEC hosts one of the world’s largest display facilities of its kind, called The Cube, consisting of large multi-touch interaction and projection surfaces. The unique open setting and the large-scale public screens provide ideal conditions to attract participation from the academic community as well as the wider public. This research will take advantage of the available interactive capabilities in order to research best practices for users to interact with the data and manipulate the display in order to tailor the experience of exploration and interpretation.

Biography

Daniel Filonik is a Media Computer Science graduate from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany. He has received an honours degree in Technology Management from the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), Munich, Germany. Further, he was a visiting scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 2009.

He has gathered work experience developing web applications for the IT service provider bit Informationstechnologie GmbH and mobile applications for the ebook start-up Skoobe GmbH. Additionally, he has worked on projects with Deutsche Telekom Labs in Berlin, Germany.

Daniel’s fields of interest are Information Visualization, Computer Graphics and Human-Computer Interaction. His current research is focused on developing intuitive interfaces for the composition and visualization of data streams including, but not limited to, environmental data.

Supervisors

• Dr Markus Rittenbruch (Principal)
• Assoc. Prof.  Marcus Foth (Associate)