Data Visualization as Exploratory Medium: From Scientific Insight to Artistic Expression

Tuesday, April 24, 2018 - 9:10 am

Data is everywhere. And, as more aspects of our lives move to the digital realm, data becomes ever more ubiquitous and powerful. It also becomes more massive and hard to make sense of. In this talk, I'll discuss a variety of ways in which data visualization can help us effectively engage with data: from generating scientific insight and enabling public debate to boosting artistic expression. I'll present a series of projects that illustrate how the coupling of visualization technique and design thinking not only empowers experts, but also welcomes lay viewers into the world of data and statistics.

Data Visualization as Exploratory Medium: from Scientific Insight to Artistic Expression

Fernanda Viégas
Senior Staff Research Scientist
Google Brain

Fernanda Viégas co-leads Google’s PAIR (People+AI Research) initiative, part of Google Brain. Her work in machine learning, with long-time colleague Martin Wattenberg, focuses on improving human/AI interaction with a broader agenda of democratizing AI technology. She is well known for her contributions to social and collaborative visualization, and the systems her team has created are used daily by millions of people. Fernanda’s passion for making complex data understandable to lay viewers has led her to visualize wind currents, study collaboration patterns in Wikipedia, and create a dynamic map of news around the world. Her visualization-based artwork with Wattenberg has been exhibited worldwide, and is part of the permanent collection of Museum of Modern Art in New York. Fernanda holds a Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab.