IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 21, 2007
CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine:
724-738-4854

gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

Harvard group taps computer science professor for project

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - David Dailey, associate professor of computer science at Slippery Rock University, was invited by the Envisioning Science Project at Harvard University to participate in a software development initiative aimed at improving visual communication. Dailey and a few others will help in the design of the next generation of "image and meaning" software.

The software being planned will help scientists, writers and visual communicators share technical information through images. Ultimately, the goal is to make scientific images more understandable and usable by teachers and the public, he said. The National Science Foundation is funding the Envisioning Science Project.

Dailey said his work in the field prompted the invite from the Harvard-based group. He and other scientists and representatives of the business community will meet at Harvard in March to launch the brainstorming component of their study. The group includes scientists from Harvard, MIT and Duke.

"Some of the software I developed for a book I am writing appears to match up nicely with ideas that these folks at Harvard have been discussing," he said. "There is a chance what I've been developing may fit into what they are contemplating as part of the image and meaning project recently convened at Apple Computer in Cupertino, California."

Dailey said he also hopes to develop graphical tools to augment on-line discussions in real time. "Rather than bulletin boards or chat rooms, how might we use some sort of graphical metaphors to preserve connections between ideas, including the time-based element of those ideas?"

Dailey joined SRU in 1999. He teaches courses in Web programming and interface design. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico and doctorate from the University of Colorado.

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania's premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.