Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Natural Capital Urban Infill: Ecosystem Services Accounting and digital methods for integrated decision making in urban development

Elton Gjata

March 23, 2016 | 12:30 - 13:10 | SUR5380

Abstract: Over the last 50 years humans have changed the Earth’s ecosystems more than any other period in history. Cities are a key driver of human induced natural capital loss. Three Ecosystem Service categories from the UN TEEB are well understood and integrated into urban development processes: provisioning services are controlled through limits on extraction; habitat services are controlled through policy that protects habitat for animals; cultural and amenity services are covered by policy and process for parks and open spaces. Regulating services are not yet well understood or integrated in municipal process and the production of urban space. This work explores why our evolving understanding of ecosystem services has failed to fundamentally influence the decision making process in urban development.

Creating an appropriate  affective impression for storytelling: Effect of Color

Abhisekh Patra

March 23, 2016 | 13:10 - 13:40 | SUR5380

Abstract: Creating an appropriate  affective impression is important to communication and in particular to storytelling. Affective impressions include but are not restricted to experiential responses such as positive or negative, trustworthy, disturbing, serious or playful, and calm or exciting.. Designers explore and manipulate color to communicate affect in visual representations, but the knowledge of how to effectively use color is largely rooted in the professional craft of the designer. In this study we report research into how different colour properties (lightness, chroma and hue) contribute to different affective interpretations considered to be of interest in information visualization applications.   We report results of several studies studies examining  whether certain kinds of palettes (sets of colors) were more likely to be chosen to convey different impressions. The first analyzed a large corpus of commercial abstract images. A set of colours derived from the results of this analysis was designed and applied to two user studies  in which participants were asked to choose palettes for two standard information visualization forms: maps and barcharts.  In all three, we found  significant differences in tightness, chromaticity  and hue patterns between desired affective impressions.   Our results suggest guidelines for how colour properties can be manipulated to achieve affect in information visualization.

Spatial Use Patterns in Cognitively Overloaded Design Task Environments

Naghmi Shireen and Halil Erhan

March 23, 2016 | 13:40 - 13:20 | SUR5380

Abstract: We conducted an exploratory empirical study to observe how designers use their task environment in order to make design decisions when they are overloaded with a large number of (computer-generated) alternative solutions. The study ask designers to make design choices using more than 1000 possible conceptual solutions. We aimed to capture the use of the task environment with various work surface settings to predict and infer new type of interactions and interface design solutions. We analyzed the data collected using various techniques such as, multi-pass qualitative analysis, visual analysis of temporal spatial records, pre- and post test interviews, and analysis of epistemic actions. We will share our initial findings in this presentation to open further discussion and receive feedback.