Affiliated Labs
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The Technologies for Aging Gracefully (TAG) Lab joined the DGP in January of 2014. TAGlab designs software, systems, and experiences that support aging through the life course. |
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The Mississauga Human-Computer Interaction Facility (MissCHIF) Lab was born as a daughter lab of the DGP in August of 2011. The MissCHIF facility provides opportunities for students based at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) to participate in CHI and Graphics research. |
History of the Dynamic Graphics Project
The DGP was founded in 1967 by Professor Leslie Mezei. He was joined by Professor Ron Baecker in 1972, who coined the name Dynamic Graphics Project in 1974, when we got our first stand-alone machine, a PDP11/45 with a highly-interactive display informally called the Graphic Wonder. The lab’s name was intended to imply the spirit of the place, and to encompass both Computer Graphics and Dynamic Interaction Techniques, which was subsumed by the new field of Human Computer Interaction in the early 1980’s. Under the leadership of Baecker, Alain Fournier, Bill Buxton, and Eugene Fiume in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, dgp became a world academic leader in both computer graphics and human-computer interaction. The lab’s alumni are now on faculty at top universities throughout the world and at major industrial research labs, and have also won academy awards for their groundbreaking work.
In the early years, we shared a lab on the 2nd floor of the Sandford Fleming building. When the building’s interior was destroyed by fire in 1977, we moved to St. Joseph Street, subsequently returning to a single room on the 2nd floor of Sandford Fleming after the building was restored. In 1987, we moved to much larger space on the 4th floor of the Sandford Fleming Building.
In July 2002, we moved to our current home in the brand new Bahen Centre for Information Technology at 40 St. George St, the primary space of the lab today.
In 2011, the DGP opened its first satellite lab, the Mississauga Computer-Human Interaction Facility (MissCHIF). This lab is located on the University of Toronto Mississauga campus, and is available to all members of the DGP as an alternative space to conduct their research.
In 2011-2012, the primary DGP lab underwent major renovation, more than doubling in size. The group’s research has quickly expanded to fill that volume, and is now home to dozens of faculty, visiting faculty and scientists, post docs, and students.