Professor Emeritus of
Information Engineering
Senior Research Investigator
Imperial College London
Topics ranging from circuit theory and design
for manufacture to human-computer interaction
Papers
A selection from over 200 papers
Teaching
Electrical Engineering and Human-computer
Interaction at Imperial College: Information
visualization at the Technical University of
Eindhoven and Waikato University, New Zealand.
Videos
A collection of mainly short video clips made to
illustrate topics in human-computer interaction
CV
Hobbies
Mosaic sculpture. In the centre (click to
magnify): Easter Island Man, DesignSpace1,
Autum leaves in snow, Totem pole (in progress)
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Imperial College London, Exhibition Road. SW7 2BT, UK
Bob Spence’s research has ranged from engineering design to human-computer
interaction,and often with the manner in which the latter can enhance
the former. Notable contributions, usually in collaboration with colleagues,
include the powerful generalized form of Tellegen’s Theorem; algorithms for
improving the manufacturing yield of mass-produced circuits; and, in
the field of Human-computer Interaction, the invention of the first
focus+context technique, the Bifocal Display (aka Fisheye lens). The novel
Attribute and Influence Explorers provide examples of novel information
visualization tools that have wide application, including engineering design.
Interactive computer graphics allows the electronic circuit designer to sketch
the familiar circuit diagram on a computer display. This potential was
pioneered by Bob and his colleagues in the late 1960s and eventually,
in 1985, led to the commercially available MINNIE system developed and
marketed by a company of which Bob was chairman and a founding director.
More recently, Bob’s research has focused on the topic of Rapid Serial Visual
Presentation in which a collection of images is presented sequentially and
rapidly to a user who may be searching for a particular image. This activity
is similar to the riffling of a book’s pages.