Titulo Estágio
OBSERVE: Open service network visualization
Área Científica
Information Visualization
Local do Estágio
DEI-FCTUC
Enquadramento
Information visualization is the graphical representation of information. Networks, bar charts, graphs, and diagrams are examples of simple visualizations that have been used for years [1]. A tag cloud, for instance, uses font size to indicate the frequency of words in a text. All information is summarized in a suitable form such that it can be understood quickly and easily. Information visualizations have long been used in academic settings, but many entrepreneurs, managers, and experts are using new technologies to create rich, compelling visualizations to understand concepts at a deeper level, their effects and relationships with other concepts, more quickly and easily.
A recent new area of research which can benefit from the power of information visualization is the emerging area of Open Semantic Service Networks (OSSN) [2,3]. The service sector accounts for most of the world’s economic activity, but it’s the least studied part of the economy [4]. Thus, information visualization can be an important tool to change this situation. Understanding how services are structured as systems and the benefits of using different services is becoming increasingly critical for society [5]. While extensive research on services has been conducted in the areas of IT processes, business marketing, and distributed software systems, research on understanding how services and service networks can be effectively portrayed using information visualization has not been explored so far.
The development of powerful information visualization techniques will, for example, represent relationships between services not previously considered. Hidden connections can be discovered and provide the basis to extend our knowledge on how connected is our world economics [3]. Experiments from other research areas such as social networking has shown that visualization can reveal interesting relationships that can led to new understanding about correlations and causality between a wide spectrum of objects (e.g. people, web pages, financial transactions, etc.). Service and service networks visualizations can also take advantage of tools to represent their dynamic nature, allowing users to control the parameters of network evolution.
[1] Ben Shneiderman & Catherine Plaisant, Chap. 14: Information Visualization, Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction. ISBN-13: 9780321197863, Addison-Wesley.
[2] Cardoso, J. and Rupino, P. Service Science: concepts, tools and platforms to support digital services for SME. In Workshop on Enterprise Systems and Technology (I-WEST 2011), 2011.
[3] Jorge Cardoso, Carlos Pedrinaci, Torsten Leidig, Paulo Rupino, Pieter De Leenheer, Open Semantic Service Networks. Technical Report.
[4] J. Spohrer, P. P. Maglio, J. Bailey, and D. Gruhl, “Steps toward a science of service systems,” Computer, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 71-77, jan. 2007.
[5] J. Spohrer and P. P. Maglio, Service Science: Toward a Smarter Planet. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010, pp. 1-30.
Objetivo
The goal of this project, called OBSERVE (ObSERVe: Open SErvice netwoRk Visualization), is to provide new methods and techniques to visualize service networks. By bridging computer science and design it will be possible to uncover the unused potential of visualization for scientists that can help them in understanding how global scale service economies are connected and evolve overtime.
The visualization tool will be developed in close collaboration with computer engineers working on the processing of large quantities of data describing services. The student will explore and design before implementing anything and will incorporate user feedback into the tool.
Examples of interesting visualization techniques which have been developed in the context of social networks can be seen at: http://socialmediatrader.com/10-amazing-visualizations-of-social-networks/. Tools and applications can be found at: http://www.kstoolkit.org/Data+Visualization+Tools
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
(a) Acquisition. The acquisition step involves obtaining the data to visualize. Identify where the data is located and how it can be accessed. The Linked Open Data (LOD) initiative is a good starting place. Other places include service marketplaces. Yet another form is to generate a synthetic dataset. This step also involves asking critical questions about what to extract from data and about relationships between sets of data. Finally, this step will also involve the definition of a business use case which will drive the research project until completion. Identify synergies with the ISG research group (September-November de 2012).
(b) Tooling and parsing. Select a suitable tool to construct the visualization application. A good web site describing tools is available at: http://www.kstoolkit.org/Data+Visualization+Tools. acquiring the data, it needs to be parsed—changed into a format that tags each part of the data with its intended use. With the completion of this step, the data is successfully tagged and consequently more useful to a program that will manipulate or represent it in some way. (November-December de 2012).
(c) Represent. Think in creative ways about the data and how the information can be effectively communicated through shapes, colors, animations, or other visual elements. This step involves the aggregation or transformation of data in such a way that it contains the needed information for visualization. This step also determines the basic form that a set of data will take. Some data sets are shown as lists, others are structured like trees, and so forth. This stage informs the single most important decision in a visualization project and can make you rethink earlier stages. (December 2012-January 2013).
(d) Writing and defense of mid-term report (December 2012-January 2013).
(e) First prototype (February de 2013). Generate the first demo version of the visualization. The prototype will help defining additional requirements and will also allow receiving feedback from the member of the group.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
(f) Refine. In this step, graphic design methods are used to further clarify the representation by calling more attention to particular data (establishing hierarchy) or by changing attributes (such as color) that contribute to readability (February-March 2013).
(g) Interact. This stage adds interaction, letting the user control or explore the data. Interaction might cover things like selecting a subset of the data or changing the viewpoint. As another example of a stage affecting an earlier part of the process, this stage can also affect the refinement step, as a change in viewpoint might require the data to be designed differently (March-June 2013)
(h) Documentation (running during the project) – Integration and revision of the documentation produced in each phase of the project into the final documentation which describe the work carried out. Write the final version of the business use case.
(i) Writing and defense of the final report (May-July 2013). Final master thesis writing, coding, integration, testing, modeling, cleaning, etc. If time allows, take the final master thesis and formatted it with a suitable format to be submit to a conference. (Help will be provided).
Condições
This Master thesis is part of a larger project on services. The group has current 8 students doing their master in this area which will provide a productive and dynamic environment for creative, exchange of ideas, and dialog.
This work will be carried out at DEI/Universidade de Coimbra within the Information System Group (ISG). A shared and suitable room will be made available to all the students. Meetings will be held every week.
Observações
The results of the project will receive feedback from the Knowledge Media Institute/The Open University (UK), SAP Research (Germany), and VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands) how are stakeholders of this project.
Orientador
Jorge Cardoso/Penousal Machado
jcardoso@dei.uc.pt 📩