Abstract-There are many different uses for haptics, such as training medical practitioners, teleoperation or navigation of virtual environments. This review focuses on haptic methods that display data. The hypothesis is that, haptic devices can be used to present information, and consequently the user gains quantitative, qualitative or holistic knowledge about the presented data. Not only is this useful for users who are blind or partially sighted (who can feel line graphs, for instance), but the haptic modality can be used alongside other modalities, to increase the amount of variables being presented, or to duplicate some variables to reinforce the presentation. Over the last twenty years a significant amount of research has been done in haptic data presentation; e.g. researchers have developed force-feedback line-graphs, bar-charts and other forms of haptic representations. However, previous research is published in different conferences and journals, with different application emphases. This article gathers and collates these various designs to provide a comprehensive review of designs for haptic data visualization. The designs are classified by their representation: Charts, Maps, Signs, Networks, Diagrams, Images and Tables. This review provides a comprehensive reference for researchers and learners, and highlights areas for further research.

There is a growing interest into non-visual forms of data communication, not only driven by the need for accessible representations but also because researchers are realizing the potential of understanding information better or differently through other modalities. Thus, haptic visualization is an immature but exciting area; it represents the abstract realization of information through the use of tactile or force-feedback devices. Through such a realization the user can gain quantitative, qualitative or nominal understanding of some underlying data. This paper presents the growth and development of haptic visualization, shows current trends, and acts as a snapshot of history. In fact, we remember the past based on temporal landmarks: we remember what we were doing when we heard the news of 9/11. Thus it is interesting and useful to look at the subject in the context of key events and seminal work. Moreover, it helps us to not re-invent the wheel: something that is far too common with interdisciplinary work. Thus, we take a holistic approach to the literature and place the research in context of important historic events and seminal work, which shows the reader where we have been, and points towards the future.

This qualitative exploratory research paper presents a Manifesto for Digital Social Touch in Crisis - a provocative call to action to designers, developers and researchers to rethink and reimagine social touch through a deeper engagement with the social and sensory aspects of touch. This call is motivated by concerns that social touch is in a crisis signaled by a decline in social touch over the past 2 decades, the problematics of inappropriate social touch, and the well documented impact of a lack of social touch on communication, relationships, and well-being and health. These concerns shape how social touch enters the digital realm and raise questions for how and when the complex space of social touch is mediated by technologies, as well the societal implications. The paper situates the manifesto in the key challenges facing haptic designers and developers identified through a series of interdisciplinary collaborative workshops with participants from computer science, design, engineering, HCI and social science from both within industry and academia, and the research literature on haptics. The features and purpose of the manifesto form are described, along with our rationale for its use, and the method of the manifesto development. The starting points, opportunities and challenges, dominant themes and tensions that shaped the manifesto statements are then elaborated on. The paper shows the potential of the manifesto form to bridge between HCI, computer science and engineers, and social scientists on the topic of social touch.

No abstract

No abstract