CASUS Institute Seminar, Giovanni Landi, Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution at the University of Geneva
Location: CASUS Lecture Room, Görlitz

Virtual Reality and immersive visualization are demonstrating to be a powerful Scientific communication tool. An important component that can make an immersive visualization more engaging and consistent is interactivity. A well designed user experience and interaction system as well as a well curated storyline can allow the public to access, process and understand the beauty of 3D datasets as scenes and chapters of complex experimental journeys. The path to the creation of an immersive interactive experience for the 2017 Nature paper “A living mesoscopic cellular automaton made of skin scales.” (Manukyan, L., et al. 2017) is a nice example of what our team is doing. The project is in progress and already raised engaging HCI and UX design challenges. Once completed this VR narration will range from numerical simulations to complex 3d scanning of live animals, hopefully making accessible to a broader audience the achievements and the challenges of our trans-disciplinary team at LANE Lab. Our team is actively promoting an “immersive visualization culture” among the many departments of UniGE’s Biology Section providing VR hardware and software tools to be explored as well as technical know-how. The valorization of 3D datasets through immersive (and interactive) user experiences and the design of Innovative visualization and collaboration tools are among our main objectives. The 6 channels immersive CAVE that we are building will be the core of our tiny but ambitious CVI “Center for Immersive Visualization”. where2test, to determine where and how much testing is needed so the resources reach the places where they have the most positive impact.

https://www.lanevol.org