Talk Title:  Making Science Interactive: Enhancing Synthesis and Collaboration

Speaker:Caroline Berger, PhD student, Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University in Denmark

Location: IRB 4105 and Zoom

Abstract:  Scientists are end-user programmers. Unlike software engineers, scientists use code as a tool. In this talk, I argue that scientific data analysis and communication is hindered by scientists’ exclusion from certain computational thinking tools. Specifically, scientists lack access to tools that require advanced programming knowledge, in our case tools for creating interactive documents, interactive visualizations, and interactive elements. As a result, the scientists fail to experience the cognitive extension afforded by interactivity. To better understand this problem, my colleagues and I interviewed and observed scientists, documenting their programming experiences. In collaboration with researchers from MIT, we then met with a group of marine biologists and uncovered challenges in creating visualizations and opportunities for interactive visualizations. Throughout this talk, I will share excerpts from my work on designing computational tools to enhance scientific work.

Bio: Caroline Berger is a PhD student at the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. Her research bridges the fields of Human-Computer Interaction, Programming Languages, and Computer Science Education. In her work, she seeks to improve programming environments through documenting the experiences of non-professional programmers, such as novices and scientists. She has an MS in HCI from University of Maryland and a BS in CS from McGill University. https://carolineberger.github.io