Data Avatars - Sentry School Brown Bag

Join the Sentry School of Business and Economics at UW-Stevens Point for a brown bag lunch and learn event about "Data Avatars – Supplementing your Visuals with System 1 Thinking" featuring Kurt Pflughoeft on Friday, Oct. 18 from 12-1:30 p.m. in the College of Professional Studies (Room 329). Boxed lunch and beverage will be included.

Visualizations for analytical purposes have a long history, yet they lack the theoretical guidance necessary to unlock their full potential. Traditional analytical graphs focus heavily on objective interpretations, primarily engaging System 2 thinking. However, such approaches frequently sacrifice the storytelling aspect and the potential of creating a memorable image.

Imagine transforming your visualization with a revolutionary concept: the data avatar.​ This innovative solution harnesses anthropomorphism and System 1 thinking to make your visuals not just informative but truly unforgettable. While System 2 thinking is still crucial in data analytics, incorporating a data avatar into your visuals elevates them to a new level of impact and engagement.

Exciting experimental results show that data avatars can significantly outperform conventional visualizations, such as bar charts and parallel coordinates, for certain performance measures - especially when dealing with more complex datasets. By moving away from outdated cartoon-like representations, like Chernoff faces, data avatars utilize “realistic” human faces to captivate adult audiences more effectively. Elevate your analytical storytelling with data avatars and watch your presentations resonate like never before!

Kurt Pflughoeft, Ph.D., holds the position of Sentry Insurance Endowed Chair of Computational Analytics in the Sentry School of Business and Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. ​With over two decades of industry experience, he has applied data science techniques in various roles, including as chief analytics officer at MaritzCX and head of marketing sciences at Market Probe.​ Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his problem-solving skills, winning Corporate Innovation and Research Awards for his work with advanced techniques. Prof. Pflughoeft's academic contributions are equally noteworthy, having presented at numerous conferences and published in several highly respected journals.

RSVP by Oct. 15 at noon to secure your spot.

This event counts as 1 credit for Smiley Professional Events.

Funding for this brown bag lunch is provided by the UWSP Center for Data Analytics.

Host or Publisher UW-Stevens Point School of Business and Economics