The Diagrams steering committee contains experts from a variety of backgrounds, reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of the conference.
The Steering Committee is responsible for:
Terms of membership are for six years (although multiple terms are permitted). The General Chair, Program Chairs and Local Chair of a Diagrams conference are automatically invited to become Steering Committee members when the conference has run. A further two members are chosen every two years. Nominations will be called for on the Diagrams mailing list and, if more nominations than places are received, members of the Steering Committee and Program Committee members of the last three Diagrams conferences will vote on the nominations.
Steering Committee Members
The current members are all listed below, together with the dates of their current term.
Dave Barker-Plummer (2006 - 2012)
I am the project manager of the Openproof project at Stanford University's Center for the Study of Language and Information. My research concerns artificial intelligence approaches to the study and teaching of reasoning, specifically formal, mathematical reasoning. I am particularly interested in the uses of diagrammatic representations in formal reasoning, and have studied both the natural representations used by mathematicians, and worked on the development of artificial formal representations. One particular interest is the understanding of heterogeneous reasoning, that is, reasoning that requires the use of information expressed in multiple different representations to solve a single problem.
Alan Blackwell (2004 - 2010)
I am Reader in Interdisciplinary Design at the University of Cambridge. I only have one big research question, but I attack it from a lot of different angles. The question is representation. How do people make, see and use things that carry meaning? The angles from which I attack my question include various ways in which representations are applied (including design processes, interacting with technology, computer programming, visualisation), various methods by which I collect research data (including controlled experiments, prototype construction, ethnographic observation), and the theoretical perspectives of various academic disciplines (including computer science, cognitive psychology, engineering, architecture, music, anthropology).
B. Chandrasekaran (2009 - 2015)
I'm Professor Emeritus of Computer Science & Engineering at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. Over three decades of research in AI and Cognitive Science, I have become increasingly convinced that perception plays a much bigger role in our cognitive activities than is implied by the exclusive commitment to predicate-symbolic representations in theories of cognitive architecture. In addition to its obvious function as a source of information about the external world, our perceptual machinery is deployed in imagining, and imagining is crucially involved in thinking. The area of diagrammatic reasoning serves for me as both a window into the more general issue of the role of perception in cognition, and as a rich arena of practical applications. My students and I at The Ohio State University are involved in the development of theories, architectures and applications involving diagrams.
Richard Cox (2006 - 2012)
I co-founded the Representation and Cognition Research Group in the Dept of Informatics at the University of Sussex. My research focuses on the ways in which external representations such as diagrams support reasoning and problem solving, especially in educational contexts. I am particularly interested in individual differences. My recent work has been concerned with information processing approaches to the assessment of graphical `literacy' and with the study of 3-way interactions between
I am particularly interested in the development and implementation of adaptive e-learning systems that help learners make good representational choices.
Stephanie Elzer (2009 - 2015)
I am an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Millersville University, and my research interests include Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science. My research has focused on information graphics (graphs, specifically bar charts, appearing in popular media) as a form of language with a communicative intention. By applying natural language techniques to understanding information graphics, we can make them more broadly accessible, such as to visually impaired individuals and for indexing and searching in digital libraries. Through the process of modeling the communicative signals inherent in information graphics, we also come to better understand the cognitive and perceptual aspects of graph design. I enjoy an active and ongoing collaboration with a group at the University of Delaware dedicated to furthering this research.
John Howse (2008 - 2014)
I am the leader of the Visual Modelling Group at the University of Brighton, UK. My research focus lies in the broad area of diagrammatic representations of logic, particularly in the development of formal reasoning systems. I am particularly interested in designing visual notations for modelling software precisely. By providing accessible notations, software should become more reliable and fit for purpose. Tools to support the use of diagrammatic modelling notations are highly desirable and their implementation brings with it a variety of challenges, such as the production of algorithms that produce good diagram layouts, which is another aspect of my research.
Mateja Jamnik (2004 - 2010)
I am a University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge (UK) and hold the EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship "Automating Informal Human Mathematical Reasoning". My PhD thesis at the University of Edinburgh, "Automating Diagrammatic Proofs of Arithmetic Arguments" broke new ground in automated reasoning. I was invited by CSLI Press, Stanford, to write a book about this work -- Mathematical Reasoning with Diagrams: From Intuition to Automation (2001). My work focuses on exploring how people solve problems in mathematics, in particular with the use of diagrams. I computationally model this type of reasoning, thus trying to enable machines to reason in a similar way to humans. Very few systems attempt to benefit from the power of such human techniques. In my work, I aim to do just that: integrate informal human reasoning techniques, such as the use of diagrams, with the proven successful formal techniques, such as different types of logic.
Kim Marriott (2004 - 2010)
I lead the Adaptive Diagrams research group at Monash University, Australia. I am interested in how we can formalise understanding and reasoning with diagrammatic notations such as finite state diagrams or house plans. I am also interested in how to use constraints in graphics to provide more flexible, intelligent diagramming environments. One important application of constraint-based layout is to provide more flexible, interactive document and diagram layout for the web, allowing documents to adapt to the viewing environment and user requirements. My final areas of research is developing programming languages and methodologies for solving combinatorial optimisation and satisfaction problems.
John Lee (2008 - 2014)
Mark Minas (2008 - 2014)
I am Professor of Computer Science at the Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany. My research has focused on tools that support creation, editing, and visualization of diagrams, in particular in computer science. I am interested in various aspects of such diagramming tools, for instance the way in which diagrams are edited (e.g., by a standard GUI or by sketching), how such tools support the user during diagram creation (e.g., error reports and user assistance), or how diagrams can be automatically layouted. I am particularly interested in tools that allow for (automatically) generating such diagramming tools from a specification and thus make it easier to create such diagramming tools.
Atsushi Shimojima (2004 - 2010)
My educational background is in philosophy and mathematical logic, but my research also involves cognitive psychology, communication theory, and artificial intelligence. Since my doctoral thesis in 1996, I have been pursuing the issue of cognitive effects of diagrams, namely, the question about why diagrams help us understand, reason, and communicate in some occasions, while having the opposite effects in other occasions. My method is the combination of semantic analysis of diagrams and behavioral study of diagram users, on the belief that the cognitive effects of diagrams depend on both the characteristics of DIAGRAM OBJECTS as an external-physical medium of information and the characteristics of DIAGRAM USERS an internal-mental processors of information. My challenge is to integrate findings in both worlds to get a principled account of the why issue.
Gem Stapleton (2008 - 2014)
I am a member of the Visual Modelling Group at the University of Brighton with my educational background being in mathematics. Broadly speaking, my research aims to provide a more complete theoretical understanding of diagrams. Mostly, I investigate Euler diagrams, spider diagrams and constraint diagrams (which are designed for formal software specification). My interests include establishing properties of diagrammatic logics, such as their expressiveness, decidability and completeness. I have also conducted research on automated reasoning using diagrams and used principles for evaluating diagrams in order to design diagrammatic and heterogeneous logics. Recently, I have also begun working on automated diagram layout, which links in with my work on automating diagrammatic reasoning.
Nik Swoboda (2006 - 2012)
I am currently a "Profesor Contratado Doctor" at the Universidad Polite'cnica de Madrid. My main research interest is in diagrammatic reasoning and the nature of non-sentential representation systems. My most recent work includes the development and implementation of heterogeneous reasoning systems for use in the teaching of logic. I also collaborate in cognitive science research studying the use of graphical representations in communication.
Previous Steering Committee Members
Michael Anderson, Peter Cheng, George Furnas, Volker Haarslev, Mary Hegarty, Roland Hubscher, Bernd Meyer, and Hari Narayanan