Francis T. Marchese

Research

Publications

Plato’s Cave: an Image Stream Installation within an Office Setting PDF
		Many people work in windowless offices where they are deprived of the sight of their outside environment. With this in mind we created a piece where a view of the surrounding neighborhood is streamed from a camera, through a network, and projected as an ambient display on a blank wall in a hallway of the School of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) at Pace University. We discuss the simile of Plato’s cave with relationship to our viewers, and comment on the artistic influences of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.
Dynamically Binding Image to Text for Information Communication PDF
	The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that a tight dynamical connection may be made between text and interactive visualization imagery. It shows that a bi-directional linkage may be created between the image space of a visualization program and hypertext space so that dynamical image and text representations of a data object are synchronized, thus maintaining the consistency of the visual information and information context. The paper begins with an analysis of the relationship between text and image, drawing upon examples from the history of art. It then discusses how text and imagery may be bound to improve the communication of information. Finally, a simple mapping application is created employing XML, HTML, and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) demonstrating these principles.
A Peer to Peer Collaborative 3D Virtual Environment for Visualization PDF
	A peer-to-peer collaborative visualization system has been built that can support both traditional displays and 3D virtual reality hardware. The software is built around Sun’s Java3D graphics and JXTA peer-to-peer networking APIs, allowing two users to load VRML geometry files and manipulate their contents. Although this software takes advantage of VR hardware, it may be used between any two Java supporting peers. Finally, because no dedicated server is required, collaborative visualizations across the web become easier to initiate and more spontaneous.

Adapting Single-User Visualization Software for Collaborative Use HTML PDF

Sun’s Java JXTA API is used to adapt an open-source molecular visualization program called Jmol. It was found that by focusing on the program’s graphical user interface the software could be quickly transformed into a peer-to-peer application. Our positive experience implies that many useful single-user programs should be transformable into tools that make collaboration across the web easier to initiate, more spontaneous, and supported by a wide range of visualization software.

A Stereographic Table for Biomolecular Visualization HTML PDF
	An inexpensive, stereographic table has been built to support molecular visualization with mainstream software that runs under Microsoft Windows. Any Windows-based software that supports side-by-side stereo pairs can be easily run on the stereographic table. This paper presents the table’s design, construction, costs, and initial user experiences.

OpGlyph: A Tool for Exploring Op Art Representation of Height Field and Vector Field Data HTML PDF Applet

We report our experiences with application of the optical art techniques of Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley to visualization of height field and vector field data. The bold use of color and simple form in Op Art engages the preattentive processing ability of the human visual system, facilitating a nearly instantaneous perception of image properties without the need for extended scrutiny of component parts. A software system called Op-Glyph was constructed to illustrate the Op Art method for data visualization, providing a user with extensive control over a visual representation’s primitives, including shape, size, and color. Initial results suggest that this glyph-based approach to data visualization may be a viable alternative or complement to more complex representation schemes, particularly in situations where there are limited processing or graphical capabilities, such as with PDAs.