Interaction techniques as a communication channel when presenting 3D visualizations

In this position paper we discuss the usage of various interaction technologies with focus on the presentations of 3D visualizations involving a presenter and an audience. While an interaction technique is commonly evaluated from a user perspective, we want to shift the focus from a sole analysis of the naturalness and the ease-of-use for the user, to focus on how expressive and understandable the interaction technique is when witnessed by the audience. The interaction process itself can be considered to be a communication channel and a more expressive interaction technique might make it easier for the audience to comprehend the presentation. Thus, while some natural interaction techniques for interactive visualization are easy to perform by the presenter, they may be less beneficial when interacting with the visualization in front of (and for) an audience. Our observations indicate that the suitability of an interaction technique as a communication channel is highly dependent on the setting in which the interaction takes place. Therefore, we analyze different presentation scenarios in an exemplary fashion and discuss how beneficial and comprehensive the involved techniques are for the audience. We argue that interaction techniques complement the visualization in an interactive presentation scenario as they also serve as an important communication channel, and should therefore also be observed from an audience perspective rather than exclusively a user perspective.