Profile of Dr Jonathan C. Roberts

Overview & Research Interests

I am a senior lecturer at the School of Computer Science, Bangor University, U.K. I joined Bangor University in 2007, and am a member of the Visualization and Medical Graphics Group. I was previously a lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent. I have research expertise in Information Visualization, Exploratory visualization, Multiple Coordinated Views, Visual Analytics, Virtual Environments and haptics, and have experience with Virtual Reality, Web-based Visualization and Graphics/Visualization Reference Models.

I am principally interested in Information Visualization and Visual Analytics. Especially interactive aspects of Visual Analytics - how users can interact and explore various scenarios and understand their information through different perspectives. I have a long interest in Coordinated Multiple Views (i.e., the coordination with and interaction between multiple visualizations). By allowing users to interact with several views that they gain a better understanding of their data. Thus, I have researched various avenues of interactive and exploratory visualization. Including: (1) Exploratory Visualization (EV) using Coordinated Multiple Views; Exploratory systems are used in many domains they utilize computer graphics to display complex data, and permit users to explore these datasets. These exploratory systems are highly interactive; allow users to display multiple representations; coordinate actions between multiple views; follow different directions and return to previous results. (2) Non-visual Visualization (using haptics and sound/sonification to present data), which covers the field of using alternative modalities to present information. I have been using the Phantom force-feedback device to represent data; and have investigated sonification methodologies. (3) I am also interested in how Virtual worlds can be used to allow users to communicate, visualize and interact remotely.

I sit on the editorial board of the Information Visualization journal Palgrave/Macmillan am a member of ACM /SIGGRAPH, IEEE / Computer and EUROGRAPHICS. I am a college member of the EPSRC and has reviewed grants for EPSRC, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (now the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). I am chair of EGUK - The UK chapter runs an international conference named “Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics” (TP.CG) and conferences have been run by the UK chapter consecutively since 1983. I am general chair for EG2011, general chair for TPCG10, and poster chair for VAST2010. I was short presentations chair for EG2001; local organizer for EGUK TP.CG 2004, joint chair for SPIE/IS&T’s Visualization & Data Analysis conference since 2000; instigated and jointly chaired the International Conference on Coordinated & Multiple Views (CMV) (2003,04,05,06), and joint chair for the international conference on Information Visualization (IV) (2003,04,05). I have sat on the international program committee of several conferences including InfoVis, EuroVis, Information Visualization (IV), Web3d.

As an educator I am involved in teaching and supervision at various levels, from undergraduate to postgraduate (MSc and PhD). I teach courses on Computer Graphics, Visualization, Web Technologies. I am Senior Examinations officer and convene the Third Year Project modules.

Projects

Heritage Science & Heritage Visualization Modelling, Interpretation and Alternate Representations: Visualization technology, Heritage Buildings & Coastal Threats. This is a Science and Heritage Programme (AHRC/EPSRC) funded Cluster. The research cluster and the networking events is led by Dr. Jonathan C. Roberts and Prof. Raimund Karl, and coordinated by WISCA (The Welsh Institute for Social and Cultural Affairs, Bangor University)

Non Visual Visualization. Recently my PhD student and I have published "Review of Designs for Haptic Data Visualization". IEEE Transactions on Haptics, page 18, September 2009. The publication is available online for now, but will be published in the next transactions.

VRLink The aim of VRLink is to develop a Virtual Reality Special Interest Group; bringing people together to understand and use 3D virtual environments for real world business and knowledge exchange. See vrlink.bangor.ac.uk. Or come and meet us on our Island on Second Life.

Research Institute for Visual Computing (RIVIC) The Research Institute of Visual Computing, RIVIC, is the collaborative amalgamation of research programmes between the computer science departments in Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea Universities.

Environmental Visualization: Flood, Oceanographic etc.
I am collaborating Fergus Sinclair of the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, on the Flood Risk Management Research Consortium project
With my PhD student Richard George, I am collaborating with the School of Ocean Sciences and investigating Interactive & Analytic Oceanographic Visualization:  Investigating Alternatives and Uncertainty.

 

Publications

• State of the Art: Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Gennady Andrienko, Jonathan C. Roberts, and Chris Weaver, editors, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization (CMV2007). IEEE Computer Society Press, July 2007.
• Visualizing Evolving Searches with EvoBerry. Edward Suvanaphen and Jonathan C. Roberts. In Ebad Banissi et al., editor, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Information Visualization (IV07), page 7. IEEE Computer Society Press, July 2007.
• Sonification of Spatial Data. Tooba Nasir and Jonathan C. Roberts. In William L. Martens, Rene Quesnel, and Gary Scavone, editors, The 13th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2007), pages 112-119, Schulich School of Music McGill University, Canada, June 2007. ICAD.
• Bifocal Radial Visualization of Intranet Search Results using Image Caching. Andreas J. Zschimmer and Jonathan C. Roberts. In David Duce and Ik Soo Lim, editors, Proceedings of the fifth Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics, pages 115-122. Eurographics, June 2007.
• Where are we with haptic visualization?. Jonathan C. Roberts and Sabrina Panëels. In WorldHaptics 2007, Second Joint EuroHaptics Conference, 2007 and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, pages 316-321, Tsukuba, Japan, March 2007.
• International Conference on Coordinated and Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization 2006. Gennady Andrienko, Jonathan C. Roberts, and Chris Weaver, editors. IEEE Computer Society, July 2006.
• Towards Ubiquitous Brushing for Information Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts and Michael A. E. Wright. In Ebad Banissi, Remo Aslak Burkhard, Anna Ursyn, Jian J. Zhang, Mark Bannatyne, Carsten Maple, Andrew J. Cowell, Gui Yun Tan, and Ming Hou, editors, Information Visualization, pages 151-156. IEEE Computer Society, July 2006.
• Visualization and data analysis 2006. Erbacher R, P.Chen, J.Roberts, M.Grohn, and K.Borner, editors, volume 6060. SPIE, January 2006.
• Ninth international conference on information visualization (iv 2005). E. Banissi, M. Sarfraz, J. C. Roberts, Bowen Loften, A. Ursynm, R.A.Burkhard, A.Lee, and G.Andrienko, editors. IEEE Computer Society, July 2005.
• Third international conference on coordinated and multiple views in exploratory visualization (cmv 2005). Jonathan C. Roberts, editor, London, UK, July 2005. IEEE Computer Society.
• Click and brush: A novel way of finding correlations and relationships in visualizations. Michael A.E. Wright and Jonathan C. Roberts. In Louise Lever and Mary McDerby, editors, Proceedings Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics, pages 179-186, University of Kent, UK, June 2005. Eurographics Association. (Electronic version www.diglib.eg.org).
• Haptic Glyphs (Hlyphs) - Structured Haptic Objects for Haptic Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts and Keith Franklin. In Antonio Bicchi and Massimo Bergamasco, editors, WorldHAPTICS - First joint Eurohaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Entironment and Teleoperator Systems, pages 369-374. IEEE Computer Society, March 2005. (18-20 March 2005, Pisa, Italy).
• Dynamic coordinated email visualization. Simone Frau, Jonathan C. Roberts, and Nadia Boukhelifa. In Vaclav Skala, editor, WSCG05 - 13th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Visualization and Computer Vision'2005, pages 187-193, Plzen, Czech Republic, January 2005. (Jan 31 - Feb 4).
• Visualization and data analysis 2005. R.Erbacher, P.Chen, J.Roberts, M.Grohn, and K.Borner, editors, volume 5669. SPIE, January 2005.
• Creating Instruments for Ideation: Software Approaches to Geovisualization. G.Andrienko, N.Andrienko, J.Dykes, M.Gahegan, D.Mountain, P.Noy, J.C.Roberts, P.Rodgers, and M.Theus. In Alan MacEachren, Menno-Jan Kraak, and Jason Dykes, editors, Exploring geovisualization. Pergamon, December 2004.
• Exploratory visualization with multiple linked views. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Alan MacEachren, Menno-Jan Kraak, and Jason Dykes, editors, Exploring Geovisualization. Amsterdam: Elseviers, December 2004.
• Eighth international conference on information visualization (iv 04). E. Banissi, K. Borner, C. Chen, M.Dastbaz, G. Clapworthy, A.Failoa, E.Izquierdo, C. Maple, J. Roberts, C. Moore, A. Ursyn, and J. Zhang, editors. IEEE Computer Society, July 2004.
• A Path Based Model for Sonification. Keith M. Franklin and Jonathan C. Roberts. In E. Banissi, K. Borner, C. Chen, M. Dastbaz, G. Clapworthy, A. Faiola, E. Izquierdo, C. Maple, J. Roberts, C. Moore, A. Ursyn, and J.J. Zhang, editors, 8th International Conference on Information Visualisation, pages 865-870. IEEE Computer Society, July 2004.
• Second International Conference on Coordinated & Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization (CMV2004). Jonathan C. Roberts, editor, 13th July 2004, London, England, UK, July 2004. IEEE Computer Society.
• Explicit verses Implicit: An Analysis of a Multiple Search Result Visualization. Edward Suvanaphen and Jonathan C. Roberts. In E. Banissi, K. Borner, C. Chen, M. Dastbaz, G. Clapworthy, A. Faiola, E. Izquierdo, C. Maple, J. Roberts, C. Moore, A. Ursyn, and J.J. Zhang, editors, 8th International Conference on Information Visualisation, pages 731-736. IEEE Computer Society, July 2004.
• Textual Difference Visualization of Multiple Search Results utilizing Detail in Context. Edward Suvanaphen and Jonathan C Roberts. In Paul G. Lever, editor, Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics, pages 2-8, Bournemouth, June 2004. EGUK, IEEE Computer Society.
• Exploratory visualization using bracketing. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Maria Francesca Costabile, editor, Proceedings of Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI 2004), pages 188-192, Gallipoli, Italy, May 2004. ACM.
• Visualization equivalence for multisensory perception. Jonathan C Roberts. Computing in Science and Engineering, 6(3):61-65, May 2004.
• Visualization and data analysis 2004. R.Erbacher, P.Chen, J.Roberts, M.Grohn, and K.Borner, editors, volume 5295. SPIE, January 2004.
• Visual Depictions of Search Results: using glyphs and coordinated multiple-views. Jonathan C. Roberts, Nadia Boukhelifa, and Peter Rodgers. YLEM Journal, 24(2):8-10, January 2004.
• Guest editorial: Special issue on coordinated and multiple views in exploratory visualization. Jonathan C Roberts. Information Visualization, 2(4):199-200, December 2003.
• Seventh international conference on information visualization (iv 03). E. Banissi, K. Borner, C. Chen, G. Clapworthy, C. Maple, A. Lobben, C. Moore, J. Roberts, A. Ursyn, and J. Zhang, editors. IEEE Computer Society, July 2003.
• A Coordination Model for Exploratory Multi-View Visualization. Nadia Boukhelifa, Jonathan C. Roberts, and Peter Rodgers. In Jonathan Roberts, editor, Proceedings of the International Conference on Coordinated and Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization (CMV 2003), pages 76-85. IEEE, July 2003.
• Pie Chart Sonification. Keith Franklin and Jonathan C Roberts. In Ebad Banissi et al, editor, Proceedings Information Visualization (IV03), pages 4-9. IEEE Computer Society, July 2003.
• Visual bracketing for web search result visualization. Jonathan C Roberts and Edward Suvanaphen. In Ebad Banissi et al, editor, Proceedings Information Visualization (IV03), pages 264-269. IEEE Computer Society, July 2003.
• 2003 International Conference on Coordinated and Multiple Views in Exploratory Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts, editor. IEEE Computer Society, July 2003.
  Towards Coordination-Intensive Visualization Software. Nadia Boukhelifa, Jonathan Roberts, and Peter Rodgers. In Proceedings PREP 2003 - Postgraduate Research Conference in Electronics, Photonics, Communications and Software, pages 199-200. Sponsored by EPSRC and IEEE, April 2003.
• Visualization and data analysis 2003. R.Erbacher, P.Chen, J.Roberts, M.Grohn, and K.Borner, editors, volume 5009, Santa Clara, CA, January 2003. SPIE.
• Multiform Glyph Based Search Result Visualization. Jonathan Roberts, Nadia Boukhelifa, and Peter Rodgers. In Proceeding Information Visualization 2002, pages 549-554. IVS, IEEE, July 2002.
  Visualization and data analysis 2002. R.Erbacher, P.Chen, M.Grohn, J.Roberts, and C.Wittenbrink, editors, volume 4665, San Jose, CA., January 2002. SPIE.
• Virtual Haptic Exploratory Visualization of Line Graphs and Charts. Jonathan C. Roberts, Keith Franklin, and Jonathan Cullinane. In Mark T. Bolas, editor, The Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2002, volume 4660B of Electronic Imaging Conference, page 10. IS&T/SPIE, January 2002.
• Regular Spatial Separation for Exploratory Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. In R. Erbacher, P. Chen, M. Grohn, J.C. Roberts, and C.M. Wittenbrink, editors, Visualization and Data Analysis, volume 4665, page 9. Electronic Imaging Symposium, IS&T/SPIE, January 2002.
• Issues of Dataflow and View Presentation in Multiple View Visualization. Jonathan Roberts. In 2001 International Conference on Imaging Science, Systems and Technology (CISST), CISST Annual Conference, Workshop: Fundamental Issues of Visualization, pages 177-183, Las Vegas, NV, June 2001.
• Sticky Pixels: Evolutionary Growth by Random Drop Ballistic Aggregation. Jonathan Roberts. In Eurographics UK 2001 Conference Proceedings, 19th Annual Conference, pages 149-155, Eurographics UK, PO Box 38, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 1PX, April 2001.
• Display models - ways to classify visual representations. Jonathan C. Roberts. International Journal of Computer Integrated Design and Construction, 2(4):241-250, December 2000.
• Multiple Window Visualization on the Web using VRML and the EAI. Jonathan C. Roberts, Rob Knight, Mark Gibbins, and Nimesh Patel. In Robin Hollands, editor, Proceedings of the Seventh UK VR-SIG Conference, pages 149-157, September 2000.
• Multiple-View and Multiform Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Robert Erbacher, Alex Pang, Craig Wittenbrink, and Jonathan Roberts, editors, Visual Data Exploration and Analysis VII, Proceedings of SPIE, volume 3960, pages 176-185. IS&T and SPIE, January 2000.
• Display Models for Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. In E.Banissi, F.Khosrowshahi, M.Sarfraz, E.Tatham, and A.Ursyn, editors, Information Visualization IV'99, pages 200-206. Proceedings International Conference on Information Visualization, IEEE Computer Society, July 1999.
• Graphics and Visualization within Cross-Stitch. Karen R. Atkinson and Jonathan C. Roberts. In Eurographics UK 1999 Conference Proceedings, 17th Annual Conference, pages 129-141, Eurographics UK, PO Box 38, Abington, Oxon, OX14 1PX , April 1999. (http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/people/staff/jcr/eguk99/index.html).
• Piecewise Linear Hypersurfaces using the Marching Cubes Algorithm. Jonathan C. Roberts and Steve Hill. In Robert F. Erbacher and Alex Pang, editors, Visual Data Exploration and Analysis VI, Proceedings of SPIE,, volume 3643, pages 170-181. IS&T and SPIE, January 1999.
• On Encouraging Coupled Views for Visualization Exploration. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Robert F. Erbacher and Alex Pang, editors, Visual Data Exploration and Analysis VI, Proceedings of SPIE, volume 3643, pages 14-24. IS&T and SPIE, January 1999.
• Publishing Time Dependent Oceanographic Visualizations using VRML. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Simon Grange, editor, Proceedings of the Fifth UK Virtual Reality Special Interest Group - VRSIG '98, page 12, September 1998. (http://www.cs.ukc.ac.uk/people/staff/jcr/vrsig98/oceanVRML.html).
• On Encouraging Multiple Views for Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Ebad Banissi, Farzad Khosrowshahi, and Muhammad Sarfraz, editors, IV'98 - Proceedings International Conference on Information Visualization, pages 8-14. IEEE Computer Society, July 1998.
• Generating Surface Geometry in Higher Dimensions using Local Cell Tilers. Steve Hill and Jonathan C. Roberts. Technical Report 4-98, University of Kent at Canterbury, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, March 1998.
• URLs in Print: To Cite or Not to Cite - Considering the Sources. Jonathan C. Roberts. Computer, 31(2):115-117, February 1998. (Internet Watch - letter).
• Waltz - an exploratory visualization tool for volume data, using multiform abstract displays. Jonathan C. Roberts. In Robert F. Erbacher and Alex Pang, editors, Visual Data Exploration and Analysis V, Proceedings of SPIE, volume 3298, pages 112-122. (IS&T and SPIE), January 1998.
• Alternative Archaeological Representations within Virtual Worlds. Jonathan C. Roberts and Nick Ryan. In Richard Bowden, editor, Proceedings of the 4th UK Virtual Reality Specialist Interest Group Conference - Brunel University, pages 179-188, Uxbridge, Middlesex, November 1997. (UK VR-SIG URL http://www.crg.cs.nott.ac.uk/groups/ukvrsig/).
• Interactive Hierarchical Data Investigation using Abstractions - the Waltz Visualization Environment. Jonathan C. Roberts. Technical Report 24-96, University of Kent, Computing Laboratory, Universty of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK, December 1996.
• Waltz Quick Start. Jonathan C. Roberts. Technical Report 23-96, University of Kent, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK, December 1996.
• Waltz User Manual. Jonathan C. Roberts. Technical Report 22-96, University of Kent, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK, December 1996.
• Aspects of Abstraction in Scientific Visualization. Jonathan C. Roberts. Ph.D thesis, University of Kent, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF, UK, October 1995.
• Surface models and the resolution of N-Dimensional cell ambiguity. Steve Hill and Jonathan C. Roberts. In Alan W. Paeth, editor, Graphics Gems V, pages 98-106. Academic Press, May 1995.
• An overview of rendering from volume data - including surface and volume rendering. Jonathan C. Roberts. Technical Report 13-93*, University of Kent, Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, December 1993.