Grant: Engage Plus Grants Program

Magnify Digital is seeking a means to use visual analytics to present the results of complex data analysis for*users of a new software system aimed at content creators, providing them with tools to plan and distribute their*content. Developing an innovative solution to this challenge will benefit Magnify Digital as well as the*Canadian cultural sector which would make use of research outcomes via the ViewerCentric software tool.*Currently, Magnify Digital uses various third party tools to access social media data (including data from*Facebook, Twitter, and selected blog postings) to identify topics of interest. The new tool brings together*various data streams, but requires an interface that OCAD U will engineer and design. Once completed and*implemented, this project will allow the company to identify where a potential content audience is most active*and clustering, since that suggests where the target audience might be found and where users of ViewerCentric*should focus marketing investment. The high degree of manual curation and data analysis involved in creating*digital strategies makes it impossible for Magnify Digital to scale its offering. Solving the visualization*challenge enables ViewerCentric to be commercialized as a DIY discoverability solution for content creators,*shifting Magnify Digital from a service agency to a scalable product company. OCAD U's engineering design*advancements made in the first phase of research signaled an opportunity for Magnify Digital in which they*recognized the need for a further developed strategy segment of the ALERT process. The need for this*additional phase was discovered through the process of data analysis, storyboard development and*implementation. Based on feedback received during the first research phase, two objectives were identified that*define the premise behind this research extension proposal: 1) Design and engineering of the ViewerCentric*multi-layered navigation to support ""strategy development"", and 2) The preliminary design of an intuitive*assistance system to navigate the elements of the ""assessment"" and ""track"" segments of ViewerCentric.