Workshop 1: Introduction to Data Visualisation Using R
In today’s fast-paced and data-driven landscape, the ability to effectively communicate information through visual means has become an indispensable skill. Data visualization is more than just creating pretty charts and graphs; it’s about transforming complex data sets into meaningful stories that resonate with your audience. By harnessing the power of visuals, you can unlock insights, identify patterns, and communicate findings in an engaging way that is easily digestible. With the right techniques and best practices, you can turn raw data into a powerful asset that drives informed decision-making and sparks meaningful conversations.
During this workshop, we will explore both the theoretical foundations and the practical techniques used to create effective visual representations of data. We will start by understanding the importance of data visualization and its impact on decision-making processes. From there, we will explore the principles of visual perception and design, learning how to leverage clarity, colour, shape, and layout to create intuitive and impactful visuals.
Throughout the workshop, you will apply the concepts of what you’ve learned in the R Environment for Graphical and Statistical Computing. Using real micropaleontological case studies, we will delve into the various types of data visualizations, using the “Grammar of Graphics” framework to build chart complexity from basic plots to more advanced and interactive presentations.
Led by Prof. Tom Ezard (University of Southampton)
Wednesday, 15th of November, 14:00 – 17:00
Red Library Room and online
Workshop 2: The power of mud – Recognising and describing features with sediment cores
This workshop will give you an opportunity to explore sediment cores collected from a variety of deep-sea environments. Discussions and activities will be centred around exploring composition of particulate material (detrital mineral grains, biogenic debris and transported clasts), presence of sedimentary structures and the relationships with microfossil content. There will be an opportunity to undertake descriptive core logging and creating smear slides. This will be an informal workshop that will allow you to time explore the sediment core collection and analytical facilities at the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility (BOSCORF).
Led by Dr. Suzanne Maclachlan (BOSCORF – British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility)
Wednesday, 15th of November, 13:30 – 16:30
max. participants: 15
(no online participation)
Workshop 3: What can AI do for you?
Dive into the intersection of Micropaleontology and Artificial Intelligence with our comprehensive workshop! This beginner-friendly session starts with an engaging introduction to AI, unravelling its fundamentals and highlighting essential tools like Python and Kaggle.
Explore the application of AI tools and models specific to academia, with a special focus on ChatGPT and Gloo for usage detection. Learn the art of prompt engineering for efficient language model utilisation and discover media-oriented generative AI tools like Beautiful.ai. Delve into the realm of Natural Language Processing with text summarization and speech-to-text tools.
We also look into Micropaleontology, where we introduce tools and models before immersing into Microfossil segmentation and identification. Wrap up the journey with a fascinating exploration of ForamVIT-GAN, a high-resolution dataset generative AI tailored for Micropaleontology. Join us on this enlightening voyage, designed for Micropaleontology experts eager to unlock the potential of AI and ML in their field.
Led by Dhruv Khanna (AISOC – Artificial Intelligence Society Southampton)
Wednesday, 15th of November, 14:00 – 17:00
Node Room 084/02 and online
Workshop 4: palsys.org and DINOSTRAT – two platforms for dinoflagellate cyst taxonomy and stratigraphy for the community
Marine palynology goes open access! Following up on the huge efforts in the calcite microfossil community to provide open access, publicly accessible taxonomic/stratigraphic databases Nannotax and Microtax, dinoflagellate cysts could not leave behind. Dinocyst micropaleontology followed a 2-step approach: Last year, the stratigraphic database DINOSTRAT was published, a living, open-access global synthesis of all properly calibrated dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphic data. Palsys.org has been launched this year, and houses an almost-complete overview of published genus and species descriptions of dinoflagellate cysts, an overview of synonymy, stratigraphic ranges and geographic occurrence. It will serve as the open-access platform for taxonomic, stratigraphic and image data of dinoflagellate cysts. During the workshop, I will explain the use of both databases, show their functionality, explain the choices we made, and explain how I’d envisioned interactive stakeholder-involvement in both databases for the benefit of all. All of this is very much up for discussion, so all input welcome! No matter what career stage you are in, if you are interested in working with dinoflagellate cysts, or are an expert already, you are welcome to come join the workshop.
Led by Prof. Peter Bijl (Utrecht University)
Wednesday, 15th of November, 14:00 – 17:00
Room 164/22 and online