Ben Shneiderman is a pioneer in the field of human-computer interaction and in the early 1980s, developed the principles of direct manipulation interface that led to hyperlinks, touchscreen interfaces and information visualization.

Talk summary:
Solving the immense problems of the 21st century will require devoted research teams with passionate leaders who are skilled at nurturing individuals, weaving networks, and cultivating communities. The growing evidence shows that research teams with raised ambitions to find practical solutions and seek foundational theories simultaneously have a greater chance of achieving both (ABC Principle: Applied & Basic Combined).

This talk will guide students, faculty, business leaders, and government policy makers on how to produce high-impact research. Teamwork becomes an even more valuable approach since it facilitates the blending of research methods (SED Principle: Blend Science, Engineering and Design Thinking). It’s time to replace Vannevar Bush’s dated (1945) linear model with new guiding principles to shift the way that governments fund research, universities train students, researchers conduct projects (teams, partnerships), and organizations reward/recognize outcomes.

Speaker Bio:
Ben Shneiderman is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Founding Director (1983-2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, and a Member of the UM Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) at the University of Maryland. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and NAI, and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to human-computer interaction and information visualization. His contributions include the direct manipulation concept, clickable highlighted web-links, touchscreen keyboards, dynamic query sliders for Spotfire, development of treemaps, novel network visualizations for NodeXL, and temporal event sequence analysis for electronic health records.

Shneiderman is the co-author with Catherine Plaisant of Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (6th ed., 2016). With Stu Card and Jock Mackinlay, he co-authored Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think (1999). His book Leonardo’s Laptop (MIT Press) won the IEEE book award for Distinguished Literary Contribution. He co-authored Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL with Derek Hansen and Marc Smith. Shneiderman’s latest book is The New ABCs of Research: Achieving Breakthrough Collaborations (Oxford, February 2016).

A light lunch will be provided.