Hello, I'm Michael! Currently I'm pursuing a Master of Science in Logic & Computation at TU Wien, after completing my Bachelor in Computer Science with honors. In addition to my studies, I'm a professional photographer, engaging mainly in wedding and business photography but personally also enjoying travel and street photography. Personally, I am deeply interested in the interplay between technology, society, politics, and philosophy, continually exploring how these areas interact and influence each other. I grew up in Tyrol and now live in Vienna, Austria.
On this page, I want to share some of my work and interests. I am currently developing a more refined version with more visual content – this serves as a temporary placeholder. Feel free to explore and connect!
Photography
Photography has been a significant part of my life since I first picked up a small DSLR camera from my dad at the age of 13. I quickly fell in love with the art of capturing moments and emotions. Over the years, I've developed my skills and style, and have professionalized my work, now operating a registered business and using occasional photography jobs as a balance to my work at the desk.
I cover various facets within my work:
- Wedding Photography: valentinaundmichael.at
This represents the largest part of my professional photography services. Alongside my girlfriend Valentina, we strive to authentically capture the most beautiful moments of a couple's most important day. - Business Photography: business.mikhubphoto.at
Alongside wedding photography, this is another major focus of my photographic work. Here, I concentrate on creating professional images for businesses. - Personal Portfolio: mikhubphoto.at
Contains various photos from different areas, but unfortunately, it is very outdated and needs to be urgently updated with new photos.
Academia
Academia and research in general have fascinated me from the first time I encountered them thanks to the Bachelor with Honors program, where my dedicated mentor Martin Nöllenburg allowed me to experience research first-hand in his group. My focus since then particularly lies in the areas of graph theory and graph drawing, which deals with the visual representation of networks.
My previous academic pursuits include the following projects and research:
- Bachelor Thesis: My thesis "Engineering a search-tree algorithm for disjoint s-t paths of bounded length" explored a new algorithmic approach to the Short Path Packing problem, which concerns determining a number of fully disjoint paths, each of bounded length, going from one node in a network to another.
Read my thesis - Interactive Semantic Word Clouds: This project extends traditional word cloud visualizations by integrating semantic relationships between words, enhancing their informational value. Utilizing algorithms and multidimensional scaling, it dynamically generates word clouds where the proximity of words illustrates their semantic connections. Our approach was published at PacificVis 23.
View Interactive Cloud | Read the paper - Graph Drawing Contest 2022: Our winning participation revolved around visualizing a dataset consisting of opera performances across Europe from 1775 to 1833. This project intended to explore the migration of operas and their cultural influence, focusing on the relationships between composers and librettists over time and geography. We created both static and interactive visual representations that emphasize the connectivity and travel of opera productions, providing insights into historical performance trends and artistic collaborations.
View interactive poster | View poster as PDF | Read the write-up
Development
Besides all the software development done in my studies, I try to find time for personal projects that allow me to explore new technologies and ideas.
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Moment of Insight: This interactive web application visualizes selected global metrics, offering users a way to gain insights into diverse topics such as democracy, climate, security, and economy through a dynamic world map. Each country can be explored in detail, revealing data-driven infographics and analyses that contribute to a broader understanding of key global issues. The goal is to provide a digestible snapshot of complex data sets, facilitating an easier comprehension of how these metrics interact on a global stage.
Explore the web app