This is the home page for the NATO Research and Technology Organization Research Task Group IST-085 on Interactive visualisation of dynamic networks. From here you can access various documents relating to the RTG. This page will be updated when relevant information becomes available.

Here are links to RTO and IST Web sites:

• RTO site http://www.rta.nato.int
• IST main site: http://www.rta.nato.int/Main.asp?topic=ist.htm
• Abstracts of NATO RTO reports http://www.rta.nato.int/Abstracts.asp
• Abstracts of NATO RTO reports (IST Panel only) http://www.rta.nato.int/Abstracts.asp?RestrictPanel=IST

A NATO Workshop "Visualising Network Information" (IST-063/RWS-010) was held in Copenhagen, 17-20 October 2006. Here, in downloadable form, are the pre-workshop documents (the call for participation (PDF) , the Request for an invitation to participate (MS Word), and the required publication security clearance form(MS Word) as well as the workshop pre-proceedings (PDF). The proceedings are available from the NATO Research and Technology Organization publication Website under the title "RTO-IST-MP-063 Visualising Network Information". This workshop was intended to bring together those who use network analysis system, those who develop them, and those who make the systems more usable and effective. A core objective was to have users talk with developers and researchers. The aim was to be multidisciplinary since both human factors and technological innovation collaborate in improving visualisation systems. The workshop attempted to identify problems to which there are as yet no solutions, but where solutions seem possible.

What is visualization?

Many people believe visualization to be the ability of computer systems to process data and display it pictorially. However, visualization is not the computer's ability to generate pictures and graphs from data, but rather the human's capacity "see" what the data in the computer mean for what the human wants to do. "Visualisation" occurs in the user's head, and what is on the screen may be pictures, text or a mixture; indeed the computer output may be auditory or tactile, in support of the human's visualisation of the import of the data.

The model below (known for historical reasons as "The VisTG Reference Model") shows conceptually how the various building blocks of the visualization process relate to each other.

Military visualization problems arise constantly from the ever increasing volume, complexity and dynamic nature of data sets of interest that are beyond the capability of current presentation techniques to display effectively for human understanding and action. Effective visualization for the military will require the continuous development of new techniques - tools and methods - that will allow closer coupling and system level integration of the human's capabilities into the overall human-computer system.

NATO Research Task Group IST-059/RTG-025 interprets visualization as a human activity supported by technology. It is a means by which humans make sense of complex data. The RTG considers visualization technologies, such as search engines, algorithmic processes and display devices and techniques, but only in relation to how they help humans to perform their tasks effectively. The RTG emphasizes the human use of the computational subsystem in ensuring that the right information is available in the form and at the time needed.

A transcript of the officially approved (Sept 1996) Terms of Reference for RSG-30

A transcript of the officially approved (Sept 1996) Programme of Work

A "Fact Sheet" that describes the philosophy behind IST-013/RTG-002 and IST-021/RTG-007.

The official documents that defined IST-013 (TAP, Terms of Reference, Programme of Work)

RTO TR-030: Visualisation of Massive Military Datasets, Human Factors, Applications and Technologies (On RTO Official Web Site)

The official documents (January 2000) that defined IST-021/RTG-007 (TAP, Terms of Reference, Programme of Work).

Presentations and discussions at the NATO RTO IST-20/WS-002 Workshop "Visualisation of Massive Military Datasets", June 2000, at the Defence Research Establishment Valcartier, Quebec, Canada. The presentations are mostly in the form of downloadable PowerPoint files. (4 October, 2000)

Conclusions and Lessons Learned From the IST-020/WS-002 Workshop (5 April 2001)

Presentations and discussions at the NATO IST-036/RWS-005 Worshop "Visualisation of Massive Military Datasets: Users talk to Developers" Sept 2002, Halden, Norway. The presentations are mostly in the form of downloadable PowerPoint files (21 July 2003)

National updates provided by some nations to the meetings of IST-021/RTG-007 and Guidelines for writing them (28 May 2001)

Presentations and discussions at the NATO RTO IST-043/RWS-006 Workshop, Toronto, 2004.

Working Papers:

• Smestad on the use of Information Theory to develop guidelines for visual presentation (PDF 1.5 Mb) (11 October, 2000)
• Guidelines for the evaluation of visualisation Systems (HTML) (6 May, 2001)
• Smestad on data fusion and visualisation (PDF 63K) (May 9 2001)
• Chipman on Scientific Visualisation and the human visual and perceptual systems (PDF 66 K) (Feb 13, 2002)

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The Network of Experts (N/X) represents an original concept in NATO research discussions and activities. It offers an unofficial forum for researchers to exchange information, data and expertise. It carries the advantages that the NATO umbrella can offer, notably in protecting members' intellectual property, while avoiding some of the problems with more formal arrangements, including Governments' current reluctance to join in official arrangements.

The N/X operates under the aegis of NATO's RTO Research Study Group IST-059/RTG-025, Visualising Network Information. The N/X supports the RTG in its mandate to study and develop methods to aid understanding and use of the contents of massive datasets. The N/X and the RTG have held several workshops with the aim of fostering much needed research in this area. The first was held in Ottawa in June '96, followed by Malvern in May '97, Toronto in June '98, and Malvern again in June 1999. Starting in 2000, the RTG organized official NATO workshops in even numbered years 2002, 2004, and 2006, so the NX held workshops only in the intervening years, Aalborg in 2001, State College (Pennsylvania) in 2003, Wachtberg-Werthoven (Germany) in 2005, and in November 2007 in El Segundo, California. A Ninth N/X Workshop was held in Malvern, UK in November 2008, and a Tenth will be held at Penn State University, State College, PA, USA, in October 2009. Proceedings of these workshops are available through the links below.

The Workshops of the Network of Experts are not NATO sponsored workshops, and operate under quite different procedures. Whereas a NATO Workshop is a formal entity, approved by the Research and Technology Board through one of its Panels (the Information and Systems Technology Panel in the case of IST-059/RTG-025), a Network of Experts Workshop is a voluntary association of interested persons, coordinated by the "Network of Experts Coordinator and attended by any N/X member who cares to come. A N/X Workshop typically emphasises discussion of issues rather than presentation of results, and even though many members of the N/X are from commercial organizations, attempts are made to make all presentations rather more relevant to visualisation issues than simple "show and tell" to advertise the successes of some particular system or approach. NATO Workshops, on the other hand, have a formal agenda of presentations, are advertised generally to NATO and PfP nations, and are open to interested parties on payment of the registration fee.

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Associated Documents for the Network of Experts

Proceedings of the First workshop, June 1996, Ottawa, Canada. (Available only in paper copy, if at all. If copies are available, they might be obtained through the N/X Coordinator, Dr. Z. Jacobson).

Proceedings of the Second workshop, May 1997, Malvern, UK.

Proceedings of the Third workshop, June 1998, Toronto, Canada.

Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop, June 1999, Malvern, UK.

Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop, October 2001, Aalborg, Denmark

Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop, October 2003, State College, PA, USA

Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop, October 2005, Wachtberg-Werthhoven, Germany

Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop, November 2007, El Segundo, CA, USA

Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop, November 2008, Malvern, UK