Oscars and Interfaces

Speaker: Antony Unwin

Affiliation: Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis, University of Augsburg

Time: Friday 09/12/2011 from 14:00 to 15:00

Venue: Access Grid UWS. Presented from Parramatta (EB.1.32), accessible from Campbelltown (26.1.50) and Penrith (Y239).

Abstract: Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are gradually becoming more powerful and more accepted. They are the standard way of interacting with the web and play an increasing role in many software applications. Nevertheless, they have not been generally adopted, and critics point to particular weaknesses and disadvantages. Many of these are due more to flaws in design and implementation than to the basic concepts of GUIs. More attention could be paid to what users want to do and how a GUI might be developed to support these goals. Using a dataset about Oscar nominees and winners, this paper considers what analyses statisticians might carry out and what kind of GUI would be appropriate for these tasks. (It also offers some insights into the Oscars dataset.)

Biography: Prof. Unwin is the First Professor of Computer-Oriented Statistics and Data Analysis at the University of Augsburg