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Seminar by Daniel Moody, Director of Ozemantics – Thursday 23rd August 2012

On Thursday we welcome Daniel Moody, Director of Ozemantics, a Sydney-based information management consultancy firm, who will be delivering the below seminar. All interested are welcome to attend the seminar.

Date: 23rd August 2012

Time: 3.10pm

Venue: Barr Smith South 3022 Polygon Lecture Theatre

Title: The “Physics” of Notations: A Scientific Approach to Designing Visual Notations

Abstract: Visual notations are pervasively used in the IT field, and have dominated both research and practice since its earliest beginnings. They are used in all areas and all levels of practice, from IT strategic planning down to integrated circuit design. For example, UML, the industry standard language for modelling IT systems, consists of 13 related visual notations. Yet historically, researchers and notation designers have ignored or undervalued issues of visual representation. In evaluating and comparing notations, details of visual syntax are rarely mentioned. In designing notations, the majority of effort is spent defining notation semantics, with design of graphical conventions largely an afterthought. This presentation describes a theory for visual notation design, called the Physics of Notations, as it focuses on the physical (syntactic) properties of notations rather than their logical (semantic) properties. It consists of two related theories: a descriptive (Type IV) theory, which defines how visual notations communicate, and a prescriptive (Type V) theory, which defines a set of principles for designing cognitively effective visual notations. The principles can be used to evaluate, compare, and improve existing visual notations as well as to construct new ones. The principles have been proposed as an international standard for designing visual notations across engineering disciplines, so could have implications beyond the IT field.

Biographical details: Daniel Moody is Director of Ozemantics, a Sydney-based information management consultancy firm, and Adjunct Professor in the Business Faculty at the University of Twente (The Netherlands). He is recognised as one of Australia’s leading experts in data modelling and information management and has an international reputation in these fields. He holds a doctorate in Information Systems from the University of Melbourne and has held senior positions in some of Australia’s leading corporations and consultancy firms. He has conducted consulting assignments in 12 different countries, covering a broad range of industries. He has also published over 100 scientific papers, been a keynote speaker 9 times and chaired several international conferences. He was the inaugural President of the Australian Data Management Association (DAMA), former Vice-President on the DAMA International Board and is listed in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. He has lived in 8 different countries (Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain), speaks fluent English and can say “hello”, “thank you” and “cheers” in at least 10 different languages.

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