Ecological Visualization Contest – 2017

Ecology Visualization Contest – with Cash Prizes!

Hosted by VISTAS* (Visualization of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems)

Grand prize – $500            Second best – $300          Honorable mention – $100

Have you transformed ecological or environmental science data into a cool visualization? If so, please consider sending us your visualization!  We (the VISTAS – Visualization of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems – team) are developing software to enhance insight or exposition of ecological/environmental science research that takes place in topographically complex landscapes and would like to find others doing ecological visualization in or around the Willamette Valley or Olympia , and showcase their work with ours.

To enter:  Please send us your still image (preferably as a jpg) or animation (preferably as MPEG, WMV acceptable), along with a one-page document (.doc(x) or .pdf) with the information about the visualization, submitted on the attached form (downloadable at VisContestForm).

Entries due Wednesday June 14 (midnight PDT).
Email to
judyc@evergreen.edu
using the Subject Header:  “EcoVis Contest Entry”

Winners will be notified by June 21
and results sent to all participants by July 1

Entries will be judged according to documented scientific visualization criteria**, e.g.,

  • Does the image tell (or help tell) a compelling story about environmental phenomena?
  • Would the data depicted in the image be otherwise difficult to understand or describe?
  • Does the image make good use of color and is aesthetically pleasing?

Acceptable entries include any visualization depicting an environmental science or ecological phenomenon, from your own or someone else’s data.  Photographs are not acceptable, but drawings are (if you could imagine that a computer program could at some point help others create such images).  Scientific visualizations typically do not include charts or graphs, but we do not exclude those that are particularly unique or expository. Individuals submitting visualizations must be local to the Corvallis or Olympia area, e.g., faculty, staff or students at Oregon State University or The Evergreen State College, the H.J. Andrews LTER, the EPA, Conservation Biology Institute, etc.  You may not submit someone else’s visualization, though it is acceptable that someone helped you create the visualization.

Questions on the form involve:

  1. Information about the person submitting the visualization.
  2. The concept(s) or phenomena the visualization depicts and use/value of the visualization.
  3. How the visualization was created, and what improvements you would like to see.
  4. Whether you are interested in meeting locally with others interested in or doing visualization or visual analytics.

* No person using VISTAS or a member or collaborator of the VISTAS team may submit an entry.
** For more detail about judging criteria, see VisContentJudging.
Questions?  Email judyc@evergreen.edu with the subject header “EcoVis Contest Question”