Mission Statement

This half-day workshop at IEEE Visualization 2006 will explore the impact on visualization systems of two emerging developments in computing: Grids and Web Services.

The aim is to bring together those interested in distributed visualization systems in order to share experiences and initiate a state of the art report on Grid-based visualization. We shall take a broad view extending beyond just "The Grid", and therefore we shall look at a number of related issues:

  • How should visualization web services be developed?
  • How can visualization systems adapt dynamically to available resources?
  • Is interactivity well supported in the Grid model of computing?
  • How should simulation and visualization be linked in Grid environments to support computational steering?
  • How should provenance of visualizations be maintained?
  • What can visualization learn from workflow?
  • Is there a need for national or international visualization services?

These questions are typically concerned with how Grid-based visualization can leverage existing work in a variety of areas; another important question is how can visualization impact on these other areas?

Program

The format will be a mix of talks and discussion sessions. We aim to publish the state-of-the-art report widely after the workshop.

Ian Foster will deliver the keynote talk for the workshop. Dr. Foster is Director of the Computation Institute, the Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Computer Science at  the University of Chicago, and Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. The co-editor with Carl Kesselman of "The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure", he is an internationally recognized researcher and leader in the area of Grid computing.

In order to give as many people a chance to contribute as possible, we aim to have a 'gong' session in which participants can speak for five minutes - either on their current work in the area, or on some issue in Grid-based visualization that they would like to raise for discussion. In order to book your slot, please mail Ken Brodlie as soon as possible.

Monday,  October 30th, 2006
1:30-1:40
 Introduction by Ken Brodlie
1:40-2:20pm Invited Talk
  Speaker: Ian Foster, University of Chicago and  Argonne National Laboratory

Title: Science 2.0: New Thinking about Data Analytics and Visualization

New information architectures enable new approaches to publishing and accessing valuable data and programs. So-called service-oriented architectures define standard interfaces and protocols that allow developers to encapsulate information tools as services that clients can access without knowledge of, or control over, their internal workings. Thus, tools formerly accessible only to the specialist can be made available to all; previously manual data-processing and analysis tasks can be automated by having services access services. Somewhat lightheartedly, I name the new approaches to science enabled by such technologies "Science 2.0," by analogy with "Web 2.0", a term commonly applied to Web-based platforms such as those being deployed by Google and Amazon. The impact of Science 2.0 on the practice of science is going to be significant, but getting it right will require innovations in our thinking, methods, tools, reward structures, and infrastructure, among other things.
2:20-2:35pm Interactivity and Computational Steering, Ray Idaszak
2:35-2:50pm UK Grid Visualization Efforts, Jason Wood
2:50-3:10pm TeraGrid, Kelly Gaither and Mike Papka
3:10-3:40pm Coffee Break
3:40-4:00pm Quick-fire session of four 5 minute talks (TBA)
4:00-4:15pm
  Autonomic Computing, Min Chen
4:15-4:30pm
 Visualization Provenance, Juliana Freire
4:30-5:00pm
 Open Discussion
5:00-5:15pm
 Closing

Organizers

Ken Brodlie, University of Leeds, UK,
Juliana Freire, University of Utah Claudio Silva, University of Utah

Participation

If you would like to attend the workshop, please contact one of the workshop organizers. Please include a brief note describing your interest in the area, and any further questions you feel the workshop should address.