Master’s Thesis Presentation • Human-Computer Interaction • VisConductor: Affect-Varying Gestural Widgets for Animating Data Visualization in Augmented Video Presentations

Please note: This master’s thesis presentation will take place in DC 2310 and online.

Temiloluwa Femi-Gege, Master’s candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

Supervisor: Professor Jian Zhao

To enhance presentations involving data in remote settings, we introduce VisConductor, an authoring and presentation tool that allows presenters to manipulate data visualizations overlaid on their webcam feed with hand gestures. Contrasting traditional platforms like PowerPoint, which distance presenters from their content, VisConductor fosters a more interactive and engaging experience. VisConductor equips presenters with the ability to configure gestures for control over expressive visualization animations, foreshadow visualization transitions, animate the disclosure of annotations, and accentuate data points during remote presentations. These gestures are integrated into configurable widgets, allowing presenters to command content by executing gestures within widget boundaries. Gesture widgets also offer real-time hand pose feedback during live presentations.

To evaluate VisConductor, we conducted two user studies focusing on presenters (N = 11) and audience members (N = 11). Feedback highlighted the capabilities of VisConductor to facilitate interactivity and engagement in remote data visualization presentations, offering valuable insights into the future development of gesture-based presentation tools.

To attend this master’s thesis presentation in person, please go to DC 2310. You can also attend virtually using Zoom at https://uwaterloo.zoom.us/j/91080551444.