The 2024 IEEE Visualization and Visual Analytics Conference (VIS), initially scheduled as a hybrid event from October 13 to 18 at the Hilton Tampa Downtown in Tampa, Florida, was transitioned to an entirely virtual format due to Hurricane Milton's projected trajectory and the potential for significant impacts on the Tampa area. I participated virtually, attending workshops, full paper presentations, and engaging panel discussions.
IEEE VIS is a premier forum for showcasing visualization and visual analytics theory, methodologies, and application advancements. This year, the conference had an overall acceptance rate of 22.26%. Our paper, "Towards Enhancing Low Vision Usability of Data Charts on Smartphones," was accepted as a full paper. I had the privilege of presenting it on October 17, 2024, from 13:45 to 15:00 EST.
👀 Keep an eye out for our daily VIS 2024 round ups and other posts this week to follow the conference on social media. We can’t wait to see you virtually and collaborate during this year's event. Let's make IEEE VIS 2024 an inspiring and successful conference together!
— IEEE VIS (@ieeevis) October 13, 2024
Workshops
1st Workshop on Accessible Data Visualization
The Accessible Data Visualization (AccessViz) workshop emphasized enhancing the accessibility of data visualizations for people with disabilities. It brought together researchers, practitioners, and disability community representatives to tackle critical challenges, share cutting-edge research, and chart a path forward for inclusive visualization design. Observing the workshop, I noted its pivotal role in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and reinforcing the community's commitment to advancing accessibility within visualization research.
Our first workshop was a blast! So many good papers and talks. We are missing a few people in the picture, but overall a great turnout. Thank you everyone. Hopefully, this is the start of a journey! pic.twitter.com/PfF9V2aQOc
— AccessViz Workshop (@accessviz) October 14, 2024
NLVIZ Workshop: Exploring Research Opportunities for Natural Language, Text, and Data Visualization
The workshop highlighted the integration of natural language processing, human-computer interaction, and information visualization to improve analytical conversations and data-driven storytelling. Presentations and discussions showcased innovative approaches to smarter data transformations, generating meaningful textual summaries and seamlessly linking text with visualizations to enhance interpretability and user engagement.
EduVis: Workshop on Visualization Education, Literacy, and Activities
The workshop brought together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to discuss the intersection of visualization and education. It showcased innovative activities for engaging young learners with data, including physicalization exercises like "Fizzy Data," collaborative data weaving, and encoding personal data into digital art. The session concluded by exploring creative and sustainable approaches to data representation, such as using embroidery, 3D printing, and playdough.
📣 Our program for the 2nd #EduVis Workshop (IEEE VIS Workshop on #Visualization#Education, #Literacy, and #Activities) is now online:
— mandykeck (@mandykeck) September 26, 2024
📊 https://t.co/rl7so9aydl
Join us on October 13 in Florida or online ($20)!
Registration: https://t.co/2TEBhLV2AT
VISxAI: 7th Workshop on Visualization for AI Explainability
The workshop showcased how visualization can demystify complex AI models by presenting insights through "explainables" and "explorables." It highlighted the potential of the VIS community to enhance AI understanding through innovative visual storytelling techniques.
Finishing strong with @adamrpearce’s Closing Keynote covering Why Aren't We Using Visualizations to Interact with AI? 📉 https://t.co/3CUdbbpz79
— VISxAI (@VISxAI) October 13, 2024
Starting off the #VISxAI lightning talks is “Can Large Language Models Explain Their Internal Mechanisms?” ⚙️ by @nadamused_, @ghandeharioun, @RyanMullins, @emilyrreif, Jimbo Wilson, @Nithum, and @iislucashttps://t.co/DC8TnwIcnUhttps://t.co/teSTfro7x3
— VISxAI (@VISxAI) October 13, 2024
Had so much fun chairing the #VISxAI workshop at #IEEEVIS and planning it with @fredhohman and @a13xba!
— Angie Boggust (@angie_boggust) October 16, 2024
Huge thank you to our keynotes @davidbau& @adamrpearce, explainable authors, online viewers, and the #BostonVIS community who clapped, cheered, and drumroll-ed live with me! https://t.co/4tCsQiY4ewpic.twitter.com/HrpE0Gzi9U
VIS Full Papers
Best Full Papers
"Entanglements for Visualization: Changing Research Outcomes through Feminist Theory"
Researchers Derya Akbaba, Lauren Klein, and Miriah Meyer applied feminist epistemology, specifically Karen Barad's entanglement theory, to reshape visualization research by highlighting the interconnectedness of data, visualizations, and societal influences. They demonstrated how this approach addresses traditional assumptions of neutrality, introducing concepts like "data hunches" to reflect human insights in analysis—their work advocates for integrating feminist theories to expand the theoretical and ethical foundations of visualization research.
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| Figure 2 (WASP): PhD student, Derya Akbaba, receives Best Paper Award |
Big ideas from @gotdairyya.bsky.social's #vis2024 📊 talk Data / viz / research are big'ol'messes. Of course! But the mess is an opportunity for understanding, not just something to clean away. Embracing the mess connects work back to messy humans, making it fun / interesting / important.
— Eli Holder (@elibryan.bsky.social) October 15, 2024 at 1:48 PM
[image or embed]
"Aardvark: Composite Visualizations of Trees, Time-Series, and Images"
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| Figure 3 (Aardvark): Explore the blog post for more details about the paper. |
VIS Full Papers: Accessibility and Touch
"Beyond Vision Impairments: Redefining the Scope of Accessible Data Representations"
📢 Interested in what accessible data visualization research *actually* means for non-vision disabilities? Our @ieee_tvcg paper, ‘Beyond Vision Impairments: Redefining the Scope of Accessible Data Representations,’ reveals how we can broaden data access for various disabilities🌟
— Brianna Wimer (@WimerBrianna) January 25, 2024
Recent @KhouryVIS alum Dr. @laurasouth_ has a paper with @michelle_borkin et al in the #accessibility and touch session about thinking "Beyond Vision Impairments: Redefining the Scope of Accessible Data Representations"https://t.co/7i03ADvkBIhttps://t.co/0bGgikxU4Z#IEEEVISpic.twitter.com/mRhKRsG0rf
— Northeastern University Visualization @ Khoury (@KhouryVIS) October 17, 2024
"Towards Enhancing Low Vision Usability of Data Charts on Smartphones"
In this paper, I presented a method that transforms static charts into personalizable interactive charts, enabling low-vision screen magnifier users to selectively view data points while preserving visual context under magnification. A usability study with 26 low-vision participants demonstrated significant improvements over traditional screen magnifiers and state-of-the-art solutions.
A big thank you to all my co-authors for their collaboration and support on our work presented at #IEEEVIS🎉. Couldn't have done it without your contributions! 🙌📊#Research@accessodupic.twitter.com/6b8CnyGFDt
— Yash Prakash (@LunaticBugbear) October 17, 2024
"When Refreshable Tactile Displays Meet Conversational Agents: Investigating Accessible Data Presentation and Analysis with Touch and Speech"
The study by Samuel Reinders, Matthew Butler, Ingrid Zukerman, Bongshin Lee, Lizhen Qu, and Kim Marriott explores the combination of refreshable tactile displays and conversational agents to support data analysis for blind or low-vision (BLV) individuals. A Wizard-of-Oz study with 11 participants identified interaction patterns influenced by task type and tactile experience, demonstrating a strong preference for the multimodal approach over single-modality systems. The findings highlight the potential of RTD-agent systems to enhance independent, meaningful data exploration for BLV users.
VIS Panels
Panel: (Yet Another) Evaluation Needed? A Panel Discussion on Evaluation Trends in Visualization
Panelists Niklas Elmqvist, Tobias Isenberg, Rita Borgo, Michael Sedlmair, and Cindy Xiong Bearfield discuss the role of rigorous evaluation in visualization. They address the balance between sustainability, feasibility, and methodological rigor in determining "how many evaluations are enough" to ensure usability and impact.
Ever wonder if you need '(Yet Another) Evaluation?' in your viz projects? Join our panel #ieeevis'24 to discuss with experts! 🖥️✨ Thursday, Oct 17, 10:15-11:30 AM CST, organized by @jiquad@dalbersszafir, Arran, @jeonhyeon11. Don't miss it! https://t.co/Bcvcqs3Glhpic.twitter.com/N1aZrX4qMc
— Ghulam Jilani Quadri (@jiquad) October 14, 2024
Conference Events: IEEE VIS Capstone and Closing
A full house in Boston for @kanarinka’s #ieeevis closing capstone. Thank you to our hosts @Northeastern@KhouryVIS for the gorgeous space! pic.twitter.com/PPN7qNKMTZ
— Arvind Satyanarayan (@arvindsatya1) October 18, 2024
✨We wrapped up Boston VIS with an amazing live talk by @kanarinka, hosted by @KhouryVIS! Organizing the Boston @ieeevis satellite events was a fantastic experience, and I’m so thankful to everyone who helped bring it all together. Check out the 🧵 below!https://t.co/XtKUuzvHDSpic.twitter.com/M1lTqVlVRH
— Camelia D. Brumar (@cameliadb_) October 19, 2024
📊 Thanks for making IEEE VIS 2024 a wonderful experience! Around the world, people came together virtually and at in-person Satellite events to celebrate contributions to visualization research and practice. Here’s an appreciation thread of in-person events this week!
— IEEE VIS (@ieeevis) October 19, 2024
📊 Announcing IEEE VIS 2025! This coming year, the conference will be held in the beautiful city of Vienna. Planning is already underway, and we cannot wait to welcome you to the heart of Europe!
— IEEE VIS (@ieeevis) November 29, 2024
Conclusion
Participating in the 2024 IEEE Visualization and Visual Analytics Conference (VIS) was an enriching experience. Despite the shift to a fully virtual format due to Hurricane Milton, the conference provided a dynamic platform to engage with advancements in visualization research. Presenting our paper, "Towards Enhancing Low Vision Usability of Data Charts on Smartphones," and receiving constructive feedback was a personal highlight. The collaborative spirit of the community was inspiring, reinforcing the critical role of visualization in making data accessible to diverse user groups.
- YASH PRAKASH (@LunaticBugbear)