VisMaster: Mastering human and computer interactions
There is no doubt that the advent of computer technology has made peoples' lives easier and computer applications have expanded to impact on almost every aspect of our lives. These applications require huge amounts of storage space for the information and data that they gather and use. The services of specialised computer analysts to help interpret this stored information are crucial. Enter the EU-funded VisMaster project, which aims to tackle this problem through the use of visual analytics. VisMaster is a cutting-edge European project focusing on the emerging research field of visual analytics. The 24-month study, a 'future and emerging technologies' activity, received EUR 535,303 in funding under the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In the past, various methods of data mining and visualisation were developed to aid efforts to utilise data on storage computers. The trouble is that these methods were developed independently of one another. Their combined development, however, offers an opportunity to drastically revolutionise and improve the data analysis process in many research and business disciplines. Visual analytics embodies this combined development. This emerging research discipline is developing technology to make the best possible use of huge information loads in a wide variety of applications. Put simply, visual analytics entails appropriately combining the strengths of intelligent, automatic data analysis with the visual perception and analysis capabilities of the human user. One application, for example, is in the analysis of large-scale network traffic. The problem of malicious activities in internet traffic has resulted in the need for companies and public institutions to carefully analyse their traffic share. Visual analytics can be used to gain a faster understanding of situations that could be of threat. Because 'automatic intrusion detection' methods can only detect previously known threats, the system's 'threat library' needs to be constantly updated; alternatively, the system must be able to detect variances from carefully defined system states. Visual exploration interfaces, on the other hand, are better at detecting novel attack scenarios since these interfaces take into account the background knowledge of analysis experts. The combination of automatic-detection systems and visual interfaces often results in the detection of structurally similar attack patterns or reveals more details of the attackers' course of action. It is hoped that as a result of VisMaster, a truly European perspective of visual analytics, as well as a European Visual Analytics Research Agenda, will be created. This research agenda will be prepared by writing strategic research papers on various fields, the project partners say. Book chapters and survey articles will then be disseminated to raise the profile of subject. VisMaster will also help to establish cross-community contacts between the visualisation community and the data-mining, data-management, perception and spatio-temporal analysis communities. Visual analytics can be applied in a number of areas including engineering, finance and public safety and security. In engineering it can help to fast-track the development of tools, materials and production methods by offering more effective access to complex information. In the world of finance, where economic fortunes depend on a variety of factors, visual analytics can help filter the relevant socio-economic data to the benefit of all economic actors.