The Xinformatics Working Group is composed of faculty, students, and staff interested in combining computation with other disciplines. These other disciplines are often called geoinformatics, bioinformatics, chemoinformatics, etc. However, since our scope encompasses all of these (and more), we call this xinformatics, pronounced "zenformatics." If you would like more information, please contact Don Barber, Doug Blank, or Dianna Xu.

This group works under the umbrella of the Center for Science in Society. Xinformatics is a project-based working group. One of the first projects that we will explore is the idea of combining an autonomous robot with ground-penetrating radar, cameras, GPS, etc. The goal would be to explore how a geologist/archaeologist could work with a robot that is dynamically visualizing and analyzing data. This project (and others) will draw on the expertise of any interested researcher.

We plan on discussing general informatics issues, and those specifically connected to any such projects that the group decides on which to focus. We hope that you can join us, live or virtually, through our forum or listserve!

Schedule

We will meet in Dianna Xu's Graphics Laboratory, Park Science 232 at 2:30pm unless otherwise noted.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Dianna Xu, Bryn Mawr Computer Science
Presentation on work done on constructing 3D models from stereo images of an archaeological site. Participants: Don Barber, Doug Blank, Weecha Crawford, Drew Mirante, Kalala Ngalamulume, and Dianna Xu (6).

Thursday, June 9, 2005

Drew Mirante, Bryn Mawr Geology
Presentation on the aspects of geoinformatics on which he is working.

Thursday, July 7, 2005

Don Barber, Bryn Mawr Geology
Informal discussion of our recent fieldwork using GPS for barrier island mapping, and GPR for mapping sediment thickness and geometry of the strata.