The 4th VAST Challenge centered on a cyber analytics scenario and offered three mini-challenges (with datasets of badge and network traffic data, a social network including geospatial information, and security video.) Teams could also enter the Grand challenge which combined all three datasets. We received 49 entries from 30 teams, and gave 23 different awards to a total of 16 teams. The techniques used will be summarized, and discussions will center around improvements of the judging process (using accuracy measures and qualitative metrics gathered from both visual analytics experts and professional analysts), improving the availability of materials after the symposium, gathering usage data, and the future of the VAST Challenge.

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Interactive visualization could become an essential tool in the work of investigative analysts. Visualization could help analysts to explore large collections of data and documents, supporting the analysts' investigative sense-making processes. This panel gathers recognized leaders from three important domains, investigative reporting, biosciences (genomics), and intelligence analysis, that all include a fundamental investigative analysis component. The panelists will provide a glimpse into their worlds, describing and illustrating the data they examine, the goals and methods of their analysts, and the culture of their respective professions. In particular, the panelists will explore how visualization could potentially benefit investigators from their domain and they will provide guidance for visualization researchers seeking to collaborate with their colleagues.

» InfoVis Panel — Wednesday, 2:00PM - 3:40PM
Changing the World with Visualization

With large amounts of data becoming available, and being accessible more easily, visualization has to step in to provide means to explore and understand that data. How can we enable people to explore the data that is of importance to them? How can we present data in a way that is not detached, but rather prompts a reaction (but yet does not distort the data)? How can visualization change the world (and what good is it if it cannot)? And how do we do all that so it still has academic value?

» Vis Panel — Thursday, 10:30AM - 12:10PM
The Impact of Future Hardware on Visualization

These are times of profound changes in computer science. Multi-core processing architectures and heterogeneous systems with massively parallel co-processors are challenging existing programming models and require new skills in parallel programming. The effects of these novel architectures are no less felt in visualization, which has always relied on high performance computing for interactive image generation and data analysis. This panel will explore how the profound changes in processing hardware will lead to changes in visualization research, application development, and education. What hardware and programming environments are we likely to see in the future, how do we get from here to there, and what new challenges and opportunities does this bring to our field?

» Vis Panel — Thursday, 4:15PM - 5:55PM
Challenges in Large Data Visualization: A Visualization Community Call to Action

Massive datasets resulting from simulations and sensors are becoming ubiquitous. There is a pressing need to create new system and algorithmic approaches to process and understand this data. This panel gathers experts in large-data visualization to describe real- world grand challenge problems, including visualizing large-scale simulation data, network security results and cosmological databases. Each panelist will describe their specific problem, approach to solving this problem and results. Panel members will generalize their experiences and discuss how the wider visualization community can participate in solving large data visualization problems.

» Vis Panel — Friday, 10:30AM - 12:10PM
New Faculty Members and Postdoctoral Fellows Spill the Beans

Applying for an academic position can be a daunting task. In this panel, we talk with a few new faculty members in the field of visualization and find out more about the process. We share some insights into how does one go about finding an academic position, what kind of material is required for the application packet, how do you prepare the material, how does one apply for the faculty position, what happens on the day of the job interview, what would new faculty members have wished they had known before they applied and much more. With many universities facing budget cuts in this economy, the likelihood of new faculty positions opening up may be slim. We discuss the wonderful alternative of taking up a postdoctoral position. Postdoctoral fellows on the panel will share their experiences and discuss what the position entails.