design lab amy fox gordon research grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Design Lab’s Amy Fox Awarded Gordon Research Conference Visionary Grant

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Emerging developments in data visualization, the practice of visually communicating data to convey patterns and trends, transcend a variety of fields including health, business, design, science, and education. With competing definitions and applications across multiple disciplines, the question quickly becomes: how do such diverse communities establish a common ground to allow for shared communication and understanding?

Amy Fox, a third year doctoral student in Cognitive Science and member of the UC San Diego Design Lab, is currently working to close that gap. She was recently awarded a visionary grant from the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education (VSE) for a project proposal she worked on in collaboration with Paul Parsons, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. The Gordon Research Conference on VSE is an annual, multi-day conference that unites researchers, designers, educators, and communicators from a wide range of disciplines to share best practices and new innovations within the visualization space.

The proposal, titled “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Transdisciplinary Potential in Visualization,” addresses a lack of shared communication across disciplines that use visualization techniques, due to misalignments in language, methods, and frameworks. Fox’s project focuses on fostering collective learning across traditionally siloed communities through breaking the barriers of communication. Transdisciplinary discussions throughout the conference provided a platform for Fox and Parsons to recognize that individuals from various backgrounds, including marine biology, museum education, and public broadcasting, share a deep appreciation for the role that visualization plays within their work, yet hold unique interpretations and applications of certain concepts. For example, Fox noted that the term “assessment” in visualization translates into a spectrum of different priorities and goals in various contexts.

Fox and Parsons aim to take the first step in creating a “community of practice” through identifying key frames of reference to set a road map for bringing these diverse communities together. The proposal calls for a comprehensive catalog of key terminology within visualization literature, an identification and integrative review of influential theories, and a systematic mapping of conceptual models across disciplines. The overarching vision for the project is to share and leverage the enthusiasm and expertise across disciplines through successfully navigating different visualization communities.

“Visualization is a rich and exciting field,” says Fox. “But to be most effective, researchers need to understand the broader landscape of practice so we can speak a shared language.” Fox and Parsons anticipate using the funds to begin exploring existing structures within visualization and conducting ethnographic studies to inform and provide insight into their research. Through examining current visualization practices with a transdisciplinary lens, Fox is looking forward to interacting with a multitude of vibrant communities who understand the value of visualization and hopes that this grant will serve as a springboard for future grant proposals.

Read Next

Don Norman Interview Design Usability

“I Think We Have to Start Over”: Usability Guru Don Norman on the Next Internet

"I think we have to start over. And we may need very separate networks. The notion that there is one network that is for everything maybe is wrong. We used to have separate networks. They were, in fact, determined by the technology. Hence radio was different than telephones, which was different than television, which was different than printed books. And today we say, “Nah, it’s all information,” and that this isn’t that neat, because on the internet you can do all of that. Well, OK. But the content is really what’s important, not the technology or the way it’s distributed. And I would love to find a different scheme where people are controlling their own data." - Don Norman
Announcing The New Graduate Student Specialization In Human-centered Design

Announcing the new Graduate Student Specialization in Human-centered Design

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock

Announcing the new Graduate Student Specialization in Human-centered Design in partnership with the UC San Diego Design Lab, Cognitive Science (CogSci), Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), and Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science (HWSPH).

The Design Graduate Specialization is a set of courses graduate students can choose to take that fit into their home degree program requirements. It is analogous to receiving a minor, but at the graduate level. The courses fit into their home program as either electives or as courses that were already part of their core requirements, plus the option to take courses from other programs taking part in the specialization outside of their home program. In addition, students will be required to take at least one course that explicitly addresses and discusses issues of power, privilege, and ethical responses. The Design Graduate Specialization is created so that it can be integrated into a one or two-year Master program or a Ph.D. program.
Enrique Zavala

Enrique Zavala on Empathy in Design | Design Chats


Enrique Zavala, Research Assistant at UC San Diego, speaks on the importance of being empathetic in design research.

Design Chats is a video series where we sit down with design practitioners to answer questions about how they utilize human-centered design.

View our Design Chats playlist on the Design Lab YouTube Channel
Human-centered Design

Community-Based, Human-Centered Design

Don Norman, Design Lab Director & Eli Spencer, Design Lab Faculty

We propose a radical change in design from experts designing for people to people designing for themselves. In the traditional approach, experts study, design, and implement solutions for the people of the world. Instead, we propose that we leverage the creativity within the communities of the world to solve their own problems: This is community-driven design, taking full advantage of the fact that it is the people in communities who best understand their problems and the impediments and affordances that impede and support change. Experts become facilitators, by mentoring and providing tools, toolkits, workshops, and support.

The principles of human-centered design have proven to be effective and productive. However, its approach is generally used in situations where professionals determine the needs of the target populations and then develop products and procedures to address the needs. This is Top-Down design: starting with higher-level conceptualizations and then refining the ideas and concepts to specific instances of products or services. This works well for mass produced items which only allows limited specialization for individual needs and requirements.
Bennett Peji

Meet Designer-in-Residence Bennett Peji

When Bennett Peji was asked to join The Design Lab as a Designer-in-Residence, he immediately said yes. “It was a natural fit,” he explains. “The Design Lab is composed of so many talented people, both in leadership and in its students, who have tremendous technical abilities, but also a big heart for using that expertise for the greater good.” Peji works with the Community team at The Design Lab, working on ways to define what it means for San Diego to be a global city. He is the Chief Innovation Officer at several businesses and Chairman of California Humanities. “Seeing us all collectively as being a very unique region in the world is one distinguishing factor in developing the opportunities that we have here. My role is to be a connector and a bridge builder to organizations who are like-minded. Like-minded in terms of seeing our region holistically and working for more ways to collaborate and create greater economic opportunities and access.”

Peji is a walking example of practicing what he preaches in order to present San Diego as a unique, diverse, global city. He emphasizes that it is not enough to just be welcoming. We must be truly inclusive. “The real work is to include and empower the folks who have never been to the table, who don't think and act and see the world the way we do, so that we can all have a more profound way of looking at the problems.” To do this, Peji has not been afraid to be the one swimming upstream. “We all have to find our way in this world called America and do the best we can. But since I’ve been on this journey for so long now, it has become so clear that it is not about assimilating [but instead] finding your own voice and expressing your own unique and distinct identity.”
Benjamin Bergen

Design Lab member Benjamin Bergen featured as an expert in “History of Swear Words”

Picture Credit: Netflix

Design Lab member and UC San Diego Cognitive Science professor Benjamin Bergen was featured as an expert in "History of Swear Words," a new Netflix comedy series exploring the usage of and science behind cursing. Bergen is the author of "What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves" and "Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning"

Watch the full series now on Netflix!
Back To Top