About Mission statement

We are an interdisciplinary research group at Fachhochschule Potsdam situated between interface design, computer science, and the humanities. Our work revolves around information visualization with a particular focus on the challenges and questions arising from social, cultural, and technological transformations. Our mission is to make sense of comprehensive datasets and complex issues by developing creative and critical approaches to visualization. All our research projects are collaborative in nature. We are cooperating with academic and cultural institutions as well as public and private organizations, especially in the contexts of digital humanities, science communication, and smart cities. The lab itself is a collaboration between the Interface Design department and the Urban Futures Institute. At the junction of design teaching and visualization research, we strive to have an impact in both academia and the world of practice. For the physical and social space of the lab, our ambition is to cultivate a stimulating environment for a transdisciplinary community of designers, developers, and scholars engaging with contemporary issues of societal relevance. We are keen to share our work with the broader public via prototypes, exhibitions and workshops, and with our academic peers through conferences and journals. The research lab is jointly directed by Marian Dörk, research professor for information visualization, and Boris Müller, professor for interaction design. Located in the main building on the FHP campus in Potsdam, the lab is a place where researchers and students with varying backgrounds especially interface design, informatics, and cultural studies are working together. We frequently invite  practitioners and researchers to our public lecture series information+visualization to speak about current issues in data visualization and related topics.