Section: New Results

Novel Forms of Input in Immersive Environments

ILDA researchers have started to investigate input techniques for the specific context of immersive environments, based on, e.g., virtual or augmented reality. These hardware devices enable displaying large amounts of data in space to better support data analysis, and there is a growing group of research focusing on Immersive Analytics in the HCI community. The question of input for data manipulation in these environments is crucial, but challenging because users must be able to activate various commands or adjust various values while remaining free to move. In this context, using the whole body as an input device offers several advantages: 1) the body provides physical support as an interactive surface, which improves accuracy and makes it less tiring to interact; 2) using the body does not impair mobility and avoids handling devices; 3) proprioception makes it possible to interact eyes-free, including when choosing values in a range; 4) by leveraging spatial memory, the body helps memorizing commands, thus interacting in expert mode (i.e., perform quick actions without visual feedback). ILDA team members participated to a position paper on this topic, which analyzes various ways of interacting with the body, discussing their pros and cons as well as associated challenges for immersive analytics [23].