Abstract: "If one constructs a visual language, it is necessary to have a methodology for constructing the relationship between aspects of the pictures and the corresponding aspects of the application domain. The various methods for specifying Visual Languages emphasize computational aspects, where the semantics of the picture is embedded in the computational setting of the specification, but they are not based on an understanding of the cognitive issues involved in the semantics of pictures and in the use of the pictures for a better grasp of the application domain and for manipulating the domain. We think that the analogy between a picture and its meaning is what can help people to understand the meaning represented by the picture, and that the match between the syntactic structures of the picture and what it represents is an important element of analogy. We formalise the notion of matching in an approach to picture semantics based on order-sorted algebra. Pictures are described in a well-structured framework (order sorted signature) and so is the application domain. Constructing the relationship between pictures and their meanings is guided by a formal notion of signature morphism which, combining with the formal description of pictures, enforces a structural match between pictures and their represented. We also discuss the various issues brought out by this algebra approach."

A broad-ranging survey of our current understanding of visual languages and their theoretical foundations. Its main focus is the definition, specification, and structural analysis of visual languages by grammars, logic, and algebraic methods and the use of these techniques in visual language implementation. Researchers in formal language theory, HCI, artificial intelligence, and computational linguistics will all find this an invaluable guide to the current state of research in the field.

ICGT 2002 was the ?rst International Conference on Graph Transformation following a series of six international workshops on graph grammars with - plications in computer science, held in Bad Honnef (1978), Osnabruc ̈ k (1982), Warrenton (1986), Bremen (1990), Williamsburg (1994), and Paderborn (1998). ICGT 2002 was held in Barcelona (Spain), October 7–12, 2002 under the a- pices of the European Association of Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS), the European Association of Software Science and Technology (EASST), and the IFIP Working Group 1.3, Foundations of Systems Speci?cation. The scope of the conference concerned graphical structures of various kinds (like graphs, diagrams, visual sentences and others) that are useful to describe complex structures and systems in a direct and intuitive way. These structures are often augmented by formalisms which add to the static description a further dimension, allowing for the modeling of the evolution of systems via all kinds of transformations of such graphical structures. The ?eld of Graph Transformation is concerned with the theory, applications, and implementation issues of such formalisms. The theory is strongly related to areas such as graph theory and graph - gorithms, formal language and parsing theory, the theory of concurrent and distributed systems, formal speci?cation and veri?cation, logic, and semantics.

Dr. Hans-Georg Fill presents an innovative framework for visualisation based on an analysis of current visualisation approaches in business informatics. It encompasses the creation of visualisations both from a technical as well as a contextual point of view. The author in particular elaborates the concepts of visual objects, ontological visualisation patterns, and semantic visualization.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference Diagrams 2002, held in Callaway Gardens, Georgia, USA, in April 2002. The 21 revised full papers and 19 posters presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 77 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on understanding and communicating with diagrams, diagrams in mathematics, computational aspects of diagrammatic representation and reasoning, logic and diagrams, diagrams in human-computer interaction, tracing the process of diagrammatic reasoning, visualizing information with diagrams, diagrams and software engineering, and cognitive aspects.

Current research in Visual Database Systems can be characterized by scalability, multi-modality of interaction, and higher semantic levels of data. Visual interfaces that allow users to interact with large databases must scale to web and distributed applications. Interaction with databases must employ multiple and more diversified interaction modalities, such as speech and gesture, in addition to visual exploitation. Finally, the basic elements managed in modern databases are rapidly evolving, from text, images, sound, and video, to compositions and now annotations of these media, thus incorporating ever-higher levels and different facets of semantics. In addition to visual interfaces and multimedia databases, Visual and Multimedia Information Management includes research in the following areas: Speech and aural interfaces to databases; Visualization of web applications and database structure; Annotation and retrieval of image databases; Visual querying in geographical information systems; Video databases; and Virtual environment and modeling of complex shapes. Visual and Multimedia Information Management comprises the proceedings of the sixth International Conference on Visual Database Systems, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), and held in Brisbane, Australia, in May 2002. This volume will be essential for researchers in the field of management of visual and multimedia information, as well as for industrial practitioners concerned with building IT products for managing visual and multimedia information.