Poster Presentation/Demo Abstract
VUE (Visual Understanding Environment), an Open Source project based at Tufts University, can help students, faculty and anyone who works with digital content, make sense of information and data using VUE’s flexible visualization, annotation and presentation tools.
Statement of the problem or issue
High-quality digital content is readily available on the Web and in digital repositories, but few tools exist to organize and contextualize information and to help transform it into knowledge. In addition, data from RSS feeds and CSV files can also benefit from a visual analysis. VUE can provide a visual and non-linear environment to analyze and present digital content.
Description of activity, project, solution, and outcome
This session will focus on how VUE (the Visual Understanding Environment) can be used as a single interface to search multiple repositories and to organize and present digital content to support teaching, learning and research. Some of VUE’s newest features include the ability to import Zotero citations into VUE and to look at the data in a non-linear and visual way. Data can also be imported from CSV files and RSS feeds.
Importance or relevance to other faculty, staff, students, departments, and programs
VUE has been used successfully by multi-disciplinary teams as a common platform to investigate complex problems, such as the intersection of human, animal and environmental health or global water issues and diplomacy. With its concept mapping interface and image support, VUE can provide a rich environment for seeing and creating connections in a number of disciplines, including health sciences, computer science, theology and art history.
Melanie St.James, Senior Interactive Media Designer
Anoop Kumar, Information Systems Architect
Academic Technology, Tufts University
(Presented at MIT Educational Technology Fair 2009)
Topic Area(s)
2. Finding and integrating digital content into the curriculum
4. Incorporating visualizations and simulations to deepen student understanding
5. Open educational tools and resources
6. Promoting cross-departmental collaborations