[Infovis] IEEE VIS2016: VAST Challenge 2016 CFP: Submission Deadline: July 12 2016

Fri Apr 8 04:22:00 CEST 2016

IEEE VIS 2016

http://ieeevis.org/

23 - 28 October, 2016

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Follow us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ieeevis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ieeevis

LinkedIn: https://goo.gl/5qABWF

*VAST Challenge*

http://vacommunity.org/VAST+Challenge+2016

*Submission deadline*:  July 12, 2016 at 11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time
(UTC/GMT -9 hours).

All participants are invited to attend the VAST Challenge 2016 Workshop, to
be held in conjunction with IEEE VIS 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland USA.  These
challenges are open to participation by individuals and teams in industry,
government, and academia. We encourage your submissions and look forward to
seeing your innovative approaches to solving these challenges using visual
analytics.

This year’s VAST Challenge returns to the island of Kronos for three
mini-challenges to test the skills of designers and visual analytics groups
alike. This scenario and all the people, places, groups, technologies,
contained therein are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, places,
groups, or technologies is purely coincidental.

*Available Now! Mini-Challenge 1:*

Please visit VAST Challenge 2016: Mini-Challenge 1 (
http://vacommunity.org/2016+VAST+Challenge:+MC1)  for more information and
to download the data.

The Euybia Island Resort and Conference Center is a busy convention resort
hotel and casino off the coast of Kronos. You are a designer specializing
in visual analytics and human-computer interaction. Euybia Island has hired
you to design an innovative interactive visual interface that enables their
facility’s security investigators to conduct real-time analysis of
streaming data. Successful designs will provide investigators with the
ability to understand current situations as they evolve, look at past data
that puts current data in context, and anticipate what might happen next.
It will also allow investigators to reconsider recent data in light of new
events.

*Coming Soon. Mini-Challenges 2 and 3*

Please visit VAST Challenge 2016: Mini-Challenge 2 (
http://vacommunity.org/2016+VAST+Challenge:+MC2 ) and Mini-Challenge 3 (
http://vacommunity.org/2016+VAST+Challenge:+MC3) for more information and
to download the data.

After the successful resolution of the 2014 kidnapping at GAStech’s Abila,
Kronos office, GAStech officials determined that Abila offices needed a
significant upgrade. In 2015, the growing company moved into a
state-of-the-art three-story building near their previous location. The new
office is built to the highest energy efficiency standards, and it is fully
instrumented with sensors that identify everything from building
temperatures to concentration levels of various chemicals.

GAStech has recently introduced new security processes. Staff members are
now required to wear proximity (prox) cards while in the building, so that
incidents like the 2014 kidnapping cannot occur again.

As an expert in visual analytics, you have been hired to help GAStech
understand its steady stream of operations data. This includes data from
stationary and mobile sensors of multiple types. The company needs your
help in operational issues as well as security issues. Can you identify the
issues to safeguard the company’s employees?

Mini-Challenge 2 asks you to analyze two weeks of building sensor data to
identify patterns of concern.  Mini-Challenge 3 poses a streaming analysis
challenge. You will be given access to two days of streaming building
sensor data. How can you identify important changes in the stream in real
time? How can you quickly come up to speed on changes in the data since you
last looked at it? What sensor would you add in order to better understand
the suspicious events?

*Which Challenges Are Right for You?*

• Mini-Challenge 1 is a design challenge. No software development is
required. This challenge is ideal for graphic designers, human-computer
interaction specialists,

• Mini-Challenge 2 involves analysis of a collection of static data about
two weeks of GAStech operations data, including building sensor readings
and prox-card movement throughout the building. This challenge is ideal for
visual analytics researchers and developers.

• Mini-Challenge 3 involves analysis of a few days of streaming data from
the GAStech building sensors and prox-card movement. Tools will be provided
to make it easier for you to connect to and test the text stream. This
challenge is ideal for visual analytics researchers and developers.

*Important Information about the VAST Challenge:*

Participants are welcome to enter one, two, or all three of the
Mini-Challenges. Entries may be submitted by teams or individuals. Anyone
not associated with the VAST Challenge Committee may submit an
entry. Entries will be judged based on the criteria appropriate to the
specific Mini-Challenge. Award winners will receive a recognition
certificate. Award winning participants will be contacted by  August 17,
2016. All participants are also invited to submit a two-page summary of
their entry for inclusion in the IEEE VIS 2016 electronic conference
proceedings.

At this workshop, challenge organizers, participants, and conference
attendees come together to discuss their work on this year's Challenge.
Award certificates are presented during the workshop. The workshop includes
presentations by selected participants, invited speakers, a poster session
for the participants, and other activities.

Following the workshop, the submissions will be posted to the Visual
Analytics Benchmark Repository (
http://hcil2.cs.umd.edu/newvarepository/benchmarks.php/) . Submissions from
previous years can also be found in this repository.

For questions, please email vast-challenge at ieeevis.org.

*VAST Challenge Committee Chairs:*

• Kris Cook, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

• Georges Grinstein, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

• Mark Whiting, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

-------------------------------------------------------------
Jian Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor
UMBC Innovation Fellow
Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/~jichen