@kristinHenry @clemens ehh nope

Datamancer is a wearable system that lets you control multiple screens with hand gestures. Point to select displays, then use bimanual gestures to manipulate data. No more fumbling with mice—just the wave of a hand. To appear at ACM CHI 2025 in Yokohama!

The work was led by @BiswaksenPat well as colleagues Marcel Borowski, @huaishup, and @clemens

Biswaksen is on the job market! You should hire him.

Blog post: https://niklaselmqvist.medium.com/wave-of-hand-command-of-screen-26c295c9e4e8
PDF: https://cs.au.dk/~elm/pdf/datamancer.pdf

DashSpace, our platform for web-based collaborative immersive & ubiquitous analytics, is now on GitHub: https://github.com/Webstrates/DashSpace

Paper w/ Marcel Borowski, Pete Butcher, Janus Bager Kristensen, Jonas Oxenbøll Petersen, @ritsos_p, @clemens and I was just accepted to IEEE TVCG!

More details to follow.

I've increasingly found myself talking about the current wave of LLMs in HCI and visualization research as a "gold rush", so I thought I should write something about it. I've been guilty of the "thin veneer over GPT" papers myself, but perhaps it's time we go beyond?

https://niklaselmqvist.medium.com/all-that-glitters-is-not-gpt-f4c64c963e44

IEEE VIS 2025 Wants You! There is still time until December 20 to apply to become a member of the #ieeevis 2025 program committee (PC)! Ph.D., 1+ VIS paper published and 1+ reviewed, and willingness to work hard in the April to July time frame!

* Blog post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2025/blog/vis-2025-OPC-blog-Volunteers
* Volunteer form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexXrkTcfThYrzk_mA3WUjR1ufs2JQWXHHwye-wC7rvVPPF8Q/viewform

Honored to have our paper "The Stories We Tell About Data: Surveying Data-Driven Storytelling Using Visualization" being selected as the 2023 best paper for IEEE CG&A. Because of its speculative nature, we had difficulty finding the right home for the paper, but CG&A turned out to be the perfect outlet. Thank you to the IEEE CS Pub Board for the distinction!

* PDF: https://cs.au.dk/~elm/pdf/stories-we-tell.pdf
* arXiV: https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.00047
* IEEE DL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10107759
* Announcement: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7272691766703620096/

The end of the year is drawing near and it is time to reflect. Inspired by Helwig Hauser's example from a panel at #ieeevis 2018, I dedicate my latest blog post to the unsung hero of my life and academic career: my wife Helene ❤️ . Without her, I wouldn't be nearly as successful as she has enabled me to be. https://niklaselmqvist.medium.com/unsung-heroes-8d8b0e73c784

Sometimes the question is the answer. As a form of exploratory data analysis (EDA), data visualization📊 is all about hypothesis generation: finding questions ❓ in unfamiliar data you didn't even know you had. In this blog post, I speculate on what this could mean for the combination of human-centered AI and visualization: the use of LLMs to capture and iterate on hypotheses. https://niklaselmqvist.medium.com/when-the-question-is-the-answer-77d9a1ed9078

📊 Announcing IEEE VIS 2025! This coming year, the conference will be held in the beautiful city of Vienna. Planning is already underway, and we cannot wait to welcome you to the heart of Europe! #ieeevis

Over my 15-year career as a faculty member, I have come up with two surefire ways to Get Sh*t Done: (1) adding something to my calendar ensures that I will attend to it, and (2) adding something to my TODO ensures that I complete it. Pro tip: condition yourself to obeying these two important tools!

@lienrag Maybe I am misunderstanding your question, but D-Tour is only *game-inspired*, not actually a game. Thanks for your interest and let me know if I can clarify anything further!

Excited to introduce D-Tour: A game-inspired approach to understanding data dashboards! 📊

Our research team has developed an interactive method for dashboard onboarding that adapts to user expertise and is inspired by open-world video games.

- Flexible learning paths for users of all levels
- Efficient authoring for dashboard creators
- Improved engagement with data visualizations

Learn more at the ongoing #ieeevis 2024 conference!

Post: https://niklaselmqvist.medium.com/taking-a-d-tour-7a847dceb2be
PDF: https://data.jku-vds-lab.at/papers/2024_d_tour.pdf

We OPCs have valued the chance to speak to the community over the last year. Thank you for your attention and interest!

We also want to extend a huge thanks to Tamara Munzner 👑 for her service these last two years! And we are pleased to welcome Melanie Tory to the VIS 2025 OPC team!

See you at the Town Hall---Wednesday October 16 at 3pm EDT! /end

Final VIS 2024 post: Conference Talks 101
Tips for success:
* Session Chairs: Prep with speakers beforehand; Manage time strictly

Speakers:
* Use ready room to test tech; Respect time limits

Attendees:
* Enter/exit quietly; Ask concise questions, use mic

Remember: Questions show ❤️ for the work!

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-Talks

September reflections on VIS 2024:

- Our past 10 blog posts shared insights on review process

Survey results:
• 47% favor 3 reviewers per paper (will likely continue)
• 74% against 8 papers per PC member (likely reverting to 6)

Future ideas: extended deadline for supplemental material, optional (anonymous) public reviews, student reviewer program

Join the VIS town hall to discuss these and more!

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-Reviewing

August update on VIS 2024 decisions:

- 124 papers accepted (22.3% acceptance rate)
- 5 papers rejected in 2nd round
- 3 rejections due to serious conflict of interest violation
- Lesson: Declare ALL conflicts, including permanent ones (advisors/students)
- We're improving processes to prevent future occurrences
- Integrity in peer review is crucial for our community.

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-decisions_2

May update on VIS 2024 review process:

- PC assignments & external reviewer recruitment: April 1-11
- Reviews due: May 8
- 1 week discussion period follows
- APCs triage papers, make preliminary recommendations
- OPCs ensure consistency across areas
- IEEE TVCG gives final approval
- Decisions documented for transparency

Good luck to all authors!

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-decisions

April brought submission stats for VIS 2024:

- 557 full papers from 680 abstracts (82% conversion)
- 3.53% increase from 2023, 21% from 2022
- Most submissions: Applications (154), Theoretical & Empirical (112)
- 143 PC members handling 6-8 papers each

Key dates:
- PC assignments: April 8
- External reviewer invites: April 11
- All reviews due: May 8
- First-round notifications: June 6

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-numbers

Mid-March, we delved into Conflicts of Interest (COIs):

- COIs affect objectivity (real or perceived)
- Some conflicts never expire (e.g., advisors, family)
- Most expire after 3 years (e.g., co-authors, shared affiliation)
- Reviewers must update COIs in PCS
- PCS now helps identify conflicts, but may be over-enthusiastic
- Accurate COIs crucial for fair review process

This post was prophetic given our later problems with conflicts in the review process.

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-handling-conflicts

Next, we addressed the hidden costs of paper submissions. Key points:

- Each submission requires ~3 reviewers' unpaid labor
- APCs and OPCs also invest significant time
- Submitting isn't "free"—it costs dozens of volunteer hours
- Authors should review ~3 papers for each submission
- Reviewer fatigue is real; everyone needs to contribute

We encouraged all to volunteer as reviewers!

Post: https://ieeevis.org/year/2024/blog/vis-2024-OPC-blog-cost-of-submission