Study profile for "Visual computing"

The term "visual computing" summarises the attempt made in computer science and bordering areas to create, process and analyse pictures as a medium to gain information and subsequently interact with them.

For the first time, simulation techniques, data analysis (e.g. data mining, information retrieval) of visualisation and human computer interaction design are combined to enable the development of user-oriented information systems at a completely new level of quality.

Visual computing accounts for the fact that the eye is the most efficient human sensor. If information is provided in a suitable manner, even complex matters can be examined.

Program of study

"Visual Computing" as a course specialisation within the department encompasses all the above-mentioned areas.

• Computer graphics create artificial images for applications for visual media such as film, advertising or computer games.
• In the area of information visualisation, images are created from data to make this data accessible to people and help provide new perspectives.
• Human computer interaction examines and supports interactive processing of visual content.
• In the area of data mining, automatic analysis methods are examined, and the results are deployed in creating visualisations.

Areas of application

As more and more software systems involve the processing of complex data, knowledge in the area of visual computing is helpful in a lot of cases and sometimes required. Applications used in

• telecommunications,
• the automotive industry,
• the financial sector,
• libraries or the public sector have this capacity
• as well as research activities in the areas of biology, pharmacy, medicine and other areas,

where large quantities of complex data are created.
 
The county of Baden-Württemberg has detected the special potential of cross-applicational technology i.e. visual computing for the technological progress of the country, and has founded a "Visual Computing" cluster (http://visual-computing.de/index.php?id=1374&L=3), which promotes this topic by means of a diverse range of activities (e.g. events, intensification of R&D projects, access to national and international support programs). The department of Computer & Information Science is a major cooperation partner in this cluster.

The study course communicates the following competences and skills

• You are already familiar with the principles of data management, data preparation and data mining.
• You are able to process large quantities of complex data to produce specific information.
• You are familiar with the principles of interactive systems, colour and design, perceptual basic principles and are able to apply these to your design in terms of content, technology and oriented towards the user.
• You are proficient in the basics of computer graphics and are therefore able to prepare graphical systems independently and considerably exceed the constraints of using standard systems.
• You are proficient in the algorithms applied to visualisation and are therefore skilled in selecting suitable methods from the many design techniques available and applying them respectively.
• You know how to combine visualisation techniques with automatic data mining techniques in order to comprehend and analyse large quantities of data.

Career perspectives

After graduating with a Master's degree with a specialisation in Visual Computing the following career options or job types are open to you:

• A position as a researcher or developer in labs at leading companies involved with data preparation and visualisation (e.g. AT&T, HP, Microsoft, Google).
• A designer at a major software house (e.g. SAP) where you develop interactive software systems, internet platforms or portals that enable access to complex information spaces (e.g. WWW, digital libraries, product databases, financial databases).
• Developer in companies from the film, simulation and computer games industries.
• Financial service provider (e.g. UBS, Raiffeisen Bank, Deutsche Bank) developing interactive visualisation tools to analyse customer- and financial data.
• A position at a library service centre where you develop portals for the supply of academic literature for major libraries and specialist information centres, which provide new search and evaluation options due to the application of visual research tools.
• You develop visual data analysis techniques for the evaluation of large quantities of data at companies from the pharmaceutical industry or for marketing applications in the area of customer support services.

Contacts

Prof. Daniel Keim, work group: Databases, data mining & visualisation   
Prof. Harald Reiterer, work group: Human computer interaction
Prof. Ulrik Brandes, work group: Algorithmics
Dorit Merhof PhD, Juniorprofessur Visual Computing