Collaborative Research Center

SFB-TRR 161

Quantitative Methods for Visual Computing

We are living in a data society in which data is generated at amazing speed; individuals, companies, organizations, and governments are on the brink of being drawn into a massive deluge of data. The great challenge is to extract the relevant information from vast amounts of data and communicate it effectively.

Typical scenarios include decision and policy making for urban and environmental planning or understanding relationships and dependencies in complex networks, e.g., social networks or networks from the field of bioinformatics. These scenarios are not only of interest to specialized experts; in fact, there is a trend toward including the broad public, which requires the information to be presented in a reliable, faithful, and easy-to-understand fashion.

Visual computing can play a key role in extracting and presenting the relevant information.

In visual computing research the aspect of quantification is often neglected. The SFB-TRR 161 seeks to close this gap.

The long-term goal is to strengthen the research field by establishing the paradigm of quantitative science in visual computing.

About the SFB-TRR 161

News

All SFB-TRR 161 News

SFB-TRR 161 Events

May 27th - 29th, 2025, full days

Kloster Roggenburg, Klosterstraße 2 89297 Roggenburg

Doctoral Retreat of the SFB-TRR 161

Jun 1st, 2026, 10.30 - 11.30 am
ETVIS 2026

Keynote | Thinking with the Eye, the Hand, and the Page
                               --- supported by SFB-TRR 161 ---

Held by:

Barbara Tversky, Stanford University and Columbia University

Bio: Barbara Tversky is a cognitive psychologist who has studied memory, categorization, many aspects of spatial perception, cognition, and language, event perception and cognition, visualization design and comprehension, story-telling, joint action, gesture, and creativity. She has enjoyed collaborations with psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists, computer scientists and domain scientists of many kinds, engineers, architects, designers, and artists. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served on the governing boards of many international organizations and on the editorial boards of many journals. She is the recipient of the Kampé de Fériet Award. She was president of the Association for Psychological Sciences and is a fellow of APS, the Cognitive Science Society, the Society for Experimental Psychology, the Russell Sage Foundation, and other organizations. She received her degrees in cognitive psychology at the University of Michigan and has taught at Hebrew University, University of Michigan, Mälardalen University in Sweden, and EHESS in Paris. She taught many years at Stanford University and several at Columbia Teachers College and is currently Professor of Psychology Emerita at both.

Abstract:

As many have noted, thought does not happen just between the ears. We use the space around us and our actions in it to think, communicate, and create. Artists, architects, mathematicians, in fact, all of us, put thought on a page because the mind cannot hold all our thoughts. When artists and architects sketch, words get in the way. When they reexamine their sketches, they get new ideas, ideas they had not intended. Sketches are messy, meant to be ambiguous and stimulate new interpretations. Visualizations like maps and diagrams also use lines, to convey information unambiguously. Hands draw lines, the eye is biased to see lines, lines link ideas in the mind and neurons in the brain. The thinking is in the loop, the eye, the hand, and the mind, presenting challenges to GenAI.

More information about ETVIS 2026

Jun 16th - 17th, 2026, full days

Berghotel Jägerhof, Isny

Internal Status Seminar of the SFB-TRR 161

13.-15. Juli 2026

Universität Konstanz

PROGRAMMIERKURS für Schülerinnen ab Klasse 7 | Computergrafik mit Processing

Mit wem?

Thomas Ningelgen war vor seiner Pensionierung Informatiklehrer am Heinrich-Suso-Gymnasium in Konstanz und ist Mitautor des Buches "Programmieren lernen mit Comutergrafik".

Wann?

3 x 4 Stunden mit Pausen am
13. Juli 2026 von 14 bis 18 Uhr,
14. Juli 2026 von 14 bis 18 Uhr und
15. Juli 2026 von 14 bis 18 Uhr 

Wo?

Universität Konstanz, Gebäude ZT, Raum 1201

Was ?

In diesem Kurs lernt ihr “Processing” kennen – einen einfach zu bedienenden Editor, mit dem ihr schnell wunderschöne Grafiken, Computeranimationen und interaktive kleine Spiele programmieren könnt. Processing wurde am MIT entwickelt und wird von vielen Künstlern und Mediengestaltern verwendet. Es basiert auf der Programmiersprache Java, die auch die Grundlage unseres Kurses ist. Anstelle aber irgendwelche langweiligen Beispiele zu programmieren, werdet ihr die Programmierung anhand von Computergrafik lernen, was wesentlich mehr Spaß macht. Dennoch gibt es auch genug zu knobeln.

Der Kurs ist eine Einführung in die Programmierung.
Vorkenntnisse sind nicht erforderlich.

Download Flyer

Past Events