In this course we will study, present and discuss articles concerning foundations, current methods, and tools in the area of Immersive Analytics (IA), taking into account the life sciences as a main area of application. IA is an emerging research thrust investigating how new interaction and display technologies can be used to support analytical reasoning and decision making. The aim is to provide multi-sensory interfaces that support collaboration and allow users to immerse themselves in their data in a way that supports real-world analytics tasks. Immersive Analytics builds on technologies such as large touch surfaces, immersive virtual and augmented reality environments, sensor devices and other, rapidly evolving, natural user interface devices.
Core topics for the discussions are
– Definition of immersive analytics, concepts of immersion, and the impact on data analysis
– The use of stereoscopic 3D for data analysis
– Multisensory representation and interaction
– Support for collaboration
– Integration of computational analytics
– Characterisations of environment designs
– Specific challenges and potential in the application areas, e.g. biology, biochemistry, and biomedicine

Exercises support the understanding of the topic. Hands-on exercises with different technologies (3D projection systems such as MiniCave/Cave and zSpace, 3D monitorwall , HMD AR and VR systems and other technology), where you work on small projects, will complement the theoretical studies.

This course has 4 SWS: 2 SWS directed studies (lectures) and 2 SWS exercises/hands-on studies.