[Viz] workshop preparation

[Cathy Manduca]

Greetings Visualization Workshop Participants-

This note provides a variety of information that will help you prepare for
the upcoming workshop including


- information on the essay due Feb 18
- more specifics on poster/demos at the workshop
- a request to contribute resources to workshop collections

We are looking forward to seeing you in Northfield (on Thursday-thanks to
those who pointed out the typo on the logistics page).  Please don't forget
that the registration confirmation deadline is Jan 31.  We must have a firm
commitment from you to participate at this time.  You need to have your 
travel plans in place to complete the registration form.

Essays-Feb 18 deadline
In preparation for the workshop, we ask that each of you
write a short essay about your experiences in using, developing or
evaluating scientific visualizations for teaching. Through these essays, we
will come to know one another better and hopefully all will gain a broader
understanding of the current state of scientific visualization and the
research behind it.  The essays will form a lasting part of the workshop
website.  We believe they will be most effective if they:

1) provide an overview of your work with visualizations to date and
highlight what you believe to be the most important conclusions that you
can draw from this work.  This work will focus on research for some, the
development of visualizations for others, and experiences in the classroom
for a third group.  You are invited however to draw from your complete
experience and combine observations from all realms.

2) set the context for these results with a brief statement of your
interest in visualizations. Why is this an
important focus of your professional activities?  What are you trying to
accomplish through visualizations?  What is the philosophical underpinning
to your work?

3) provide references where appropriate to allow readers to explore topics
more deeply.

The essays can be one or more pages in length.  To
allow adequate time for all to read and digest the essays we ask that they
be uploaded to the workshop website no later than February 18.  To upload
your essay, follow the link to Contribute Essay on the workshop website.


Poster/Demos
I have had some requests for clarification about the poster/demonstration
sessions.  These sessions are intended to provide you with an opportunity to
present your work on/with visualizations to the other participants.  We 
will have a 36 x 40 space for each you to display a poster.  For
those of you whose work is on-line, we will provide space for you to set up
laptops, internet connections, and power cords.  You can request these 
items on the registration form. We expect that you will come with the 
materials that you will present already prepared (this is in contrast to 
some Cutting Edge workshops where posters are made during the workshop). 
There may be substantial overlap between your poster and your essay.  If 
this is the case, you are welcome to repurpose content, however, we hope 
that you will think about how to best communicate in these two very 
different venues.  In particular, the essays are intended to be a summary 
while the poster/demo might be best viewed as helping you have a 
conversation with the other participants.

Each participant will take part in one of the three poster/demonstrations 
during the meeting. The registration asks you to pick the session that is 
most appropriate for your work.  You will find descriptions of the sessions 
on the program.  In addition, we have an evening when all 
posters/demonstrations can be viewed. The intent here is just to provide 
more time to interact one-on-one.


Contributing Resources

To support your work both prior to and after the workshop, as well as to
help the broader community, we are creating the collections of resources
that will be helpful to those working with visualizations. These are:

    * A collection of references (print or web) including research about
how students and experts learn from visualizations, and studies of the use
of visualizations in teaching (particularly geoscience).
 * A collection
of visualizations and their use in teaching geoscience.
  * A collection
of information and on-line tools to assist creators of visualizations.

Your contributions to these collections would be most helpful in putting
together a useful resource that reflects all of our expertise.  It also
provides a mechanism for sharing your work and ideas with the broader
community.  To contribute to the collections, please follow the link to
Contribute Resources on the workshop website.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Looking forward!
Cathy



Cathryn A. Manduca
Director, Science Education Resource Center
Carleton College
Northfield, MN  55057
507 646-7096
cmanduca at carleton.edu
serc.carleton.edu