Challenges in Synchronous & Remote Collaboration Around Visualization

Brehmer, M., Cordeil, M., Hurter, C., Itoh, T., Büschel, W., Jasim, M., Prouzeau, A., Saffo, D., Bartram, L., Carpendale, S., Zhu-Tian, C., Cunningham, A., Dwyer, T., Huron, S., Itoh, M., Joshi, A., Kiyokawa, K., Kuzuoka, H., Lee, B., Molina León, G., Reiterer, H., Ryskeldiev, B., Schwabish, J., Smith, B., Sumi, Y., Suzuki, R., Tang, A., Yang, Y., and Zhao, J. (2026). Challenges in Synchronous & Remote Collaboration Around Visualization. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26).

Abstract

We characterize 16 challenges faced by those investigating and developing remote and synchronous collaborative experiences around visualization. Our work reflects the perspectives and prior research efforts of an international group of 29 experts from across human-computer interaction and visualization sub-communities. The challenges are anchored around five collaborative activities that exhibit a centrality of visualization and multimodal communication. These activities include exploratory data analysis, creative ideation, visualization-rich presentations, joint decision making grounded in data, and real-time data monitoring. The challenges also reflect the changing dynamics of these activities in the face of recent advances in extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI). As an organizing scheme for future research at the intersection of visualization and computer-supported cooperative work, we align the challenges with a sequence of four sets of research and development activities: technological choices, social factors, AI assistance, and evaluation.

Materials

URL (https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791117)
DOI (https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791117)

BibTeX

@inproceedings{brehmer2026challenges,
  abstract = {We characterize 16 challenges faced by those investigating and developing remote and synchronous collaborative experiences around visualization. Our work reflects the perspectives and prior research efforts of an international group of 29 experts from across human-computer interaction and visualization sub-communities. The challenges are anchored around five collaborative activities that exhibit a centrality of visualization and multimodal communication. These activities include exploratory data analysis, creative ideation, visualization-rich presentations, joint decision making grounded in data, and real-time data monitoring. The challenges also reflect the changing dynamics of these activities in the face of recent advances in extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI). As an organizing scheme for future research at the intersection of visualization and computer-supported cooperative work, we align the challenges with a sequence of four sets of research and development activities: technological choices, social factors, AI assistance, and evaluation.},
  type = {conference},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791117},
  doi = {10.1145/3772318.3791117},
  publisher = {ACM},
  address = {Barcelona, Spain},
  year = {2026},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26)},
  title = {Challenges in Synchronous & Remote Collaboration Around Visualization},
  author = {Brehmer, Matthew and Cordeil, Maxime and Hurter, Christophe and Itoh, Takayuki and Büschel, Wolfgang and Jasim, Mahmood and Prouzeau, Arnaud and Saffo, David and Bartram, Lyn and Carpendale, Sheelagh and Zhu-Tian, Chen and Cunningham, Andrew and Dwyer, Tim and Huron, Samuel and Itoh, Masahiko and Joshi, Alark and Kiyokawa, Kiyoshi and Kuzuoka, Hideaki and Lee, Bongshin and Molina León, Gabriela and Reiterer, Harald and Ryskeldiev, Bektur and Schwabish, Jonathan and Smith, Brian A. and Sumi, Yasuyuki and Suzuki, Ryo and Tang, Anthony and Yang, Yalong and Zhao, Jian},
}