Tiziana Catarci obtained her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in 1992 from the University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy, where she is now a full professor. Her main research interests are in theoretical and application oriented aspects of visual formalisms for databases, information visualization, database design, cooperative information systems, user interfaces, usability, digital libraries, data quality and Web access. On these topics, she has published over 150 papers in leading journals and conferences and 20 books. Her contributions can be regarded as one of the first and most significant examples of deep analysis and formalization of the interaction between the user and the database, which takes in consideration both usability issues and language related aspects. Alan Dix is Professor of Computing at Lancaster University. His work in HCI research has spanned 25 years and has included the study of formal methods for interactive systems (his thesis topic), collaborative work, and web and mobile interfaces. His recent work has focused on intelligent Internet interfaces, physicality in design and methods for technical creativity. He has published over 300 technical papers and authored and co-authored several books including one of the main international textbooks in human-computer interaction. In addition to his HCI research, he was involved in two dot.com start-ups, and recently, he was co-inventor of intelligent lighting technology, which is currently under commercial development. Stephen Kimani is a Research Scientist with CSIRO ICT Centre (Australia). He has been a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy). He holds a PhD in Computer Engineering (University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, 2004) and MSc in Advanced Computing (University of Bristol, UK, 1998). His main area of research is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and in particular usability, user interface design, mobile computing, visual information access, and accessibility. He has published widely and is serving as a member of a Program Committee for several international HCI conferences. Giuseppe Santucci is Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science of Sapienza Università di Roma. His main research activities concern user interfaces to databases, human-computer interaction, and information visualization, focusing on expressive power and topological properties of visual query languages for semantic data models, on user interfaces development and assessment, on evaluation and quality aspects of Information Visualization techniques, on visual analytics, and visual data mining. On such topics he published more than 90 papers in international journals and conferences. He has served in various roles for conferences in the areas of data management and user interfaces, most notably general chair and programme chair of AVI 2010, the ACM conference on advanced visual interfaces.

• Why User-Centered.- The Early Days: Visual Query Systems.- Beyond Querying.- More Advanced Applications.- Non-Visual Interfaces.- Conclusions.

Tiziana Catarci obtained her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in 1992 from the University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy, where she is now a full professor. Her main research interests are in theoretical and application oriented aspects of visual formalisms for databases, information visualization, database design, cooperative information systems, user interfaces, usability, digital libraries, data quality and Web access. On these topics, she has published over 150 papers in leading journals and conferences and 20 books. Her contributions can be regarded as one of the first and most significant examples of deep analysis and formalization of the interaction between the user and the database, which takes in consideration both usability issues and language related aspects. Alan Dix is Professor of Computing at Lancaster University. His work in HCI research has spanned 25 years and has included the study of formal methods for interactive systems (his thesis topic), collaborative work, and web and mobile interfaces. His recent work has focused on intelligent Internet interfaces, physicality in design and methods for technical creativity. He has published over 300 technical papers and authored and co-authored several books including one of the main international textbooks in human-computer interaction. In addition to his HCI research, he was involved in two dot.com start-ups, and recently, he was co-inventor of intelligent lighting technology, which is currently under commercial development. Stephen Kimani is a Research Scientist with CSIRO ICT Centre (Australia). He has been a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy). He holds a PhD in Computer Engineering (University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, 2004) and MSc in Advanced Computing (University of Bristol, UK, 1998). His main area of research is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and in particular usability, user interface design, mobile computing, visual information access, and accessibility. He has published widely and is serving as a member of a Program Committee for several international HCI conferences. Giuseppe Santucci is Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science of Sapienza Università di Roma. His main research activities concern user interfaces to databases, human-computer interaction, and information visualization, focusing on expressive power and topological properties of visual query languages for semantic data models, on user interfaces development and assessment, on evaluation and quality aspects of Information Visualization techniques, on visual analytics, and visual data mining. On such topics he published more than 90 papers in international journals and conferences. He has served in various roles for conferences in the areas of data management and user interfaces, most notably general chair and programme chair of AVI 2010, the ACM conference on advanced visual interfaces.

• Why User-Centered.- The Early Days: Visual Query Systems.- Beyond Querying.- More Advanced Applications.- Non-Visual Interfaces.- Conclusions.

Tiziana Catarci obtained her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in 1992 from the University of Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy, where she is now a full professor. Her main research interests are in theoretical and application oriented aspects of visual formalisms for databases, information visualization, database design, cooperative information systems, user interfaces, usability, digital libraries, data quality and Web access. On these topics, she has published over 150 papers in leading journals and conferences and 20 books. Her contributions can be regarded as one of the first and most significant examples of deep analysis and formalization of the interaction between the user and the database, which takes in consideration both usability issues and language related aspects. Alan Dix is Professor of Computing at Lancaster University. His work in HCI research has spanned 25 years and has included the study of formal methods for interactive systems (his thesis topic), collaborative work, and web and mobile interfaces. His recent work has focused on intelligent Internet interfaces, physicality in design and methods for technical creativity. He has published over 300 technical papers and authored and co-authored several books including one of the main international textbooks in human-computer interaction. In addition to his HCI research, he was involved in two dot.com start-ups, and recently, he was co-inventor of intelligent lighting technology, which is currently under commercial development. Stephen Kimani is a Research Scientist with CSIRO ICT Centre (Australia). He has been a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy). He holds a PhD in Computer Engineering (University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, 2004) and MSc in Advanced Computing (University of Bristol, UK, 1998). His main area of research is Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and in particular usability, user interface design, mobile computing, visual information access, and accessibility. He has published widely and is serving as a member of a Program Committee for several international HCI conferences. Giuseppe Santucci is Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science of Sapienza Università di Roma. His main research activities concern user interfaces to databases, human-computer interaction, and information visualization, focusing on expressive power and topological properties of visual query languages for semantic data models, on user interfaces development and assessment, on evaluation and quality aspects of Information Visualization techniques, on visual analytics, and visual data mining. On such topics he published more than 90 papers in international journals and conferences. He has served in various roles for conferences in the areas of data management and user interfaces, most notably general chair and programme chair of AVI 2010, the ACM conference on advanced visual interfaces.

• Why User-Centered.- The Early Days: Visual Query Systems.- Beyond Querying.- More Advanced Applications.- Non-Visual Interfaces.- Conclusions.