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Remote Presence: Communicating deictic gestures through handheld multi-touch devices

28 October 2013

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Deictic gestures are gestures we make during communication to point at objects or persons. In [1], Clark considers the indicative acts of directing-to â€" guiding the addressee to an object â€" and placing-for â€" placing an object for the addressee's attention. Commonly used presentation software tools, such as PowerPoint and Keynote, offer ample support for placing-for gestures, e.g. slide transitions, progressive disclosure of list items, animations. Such presentation tools, however, do not generally offer adequate support for directing-to gestures. In our research we aim to demonstrate the value of presenting deictic gestures to a remote audience, as well as identify the most common deictic gestural intentions and the graphical effects that best represent these. We present design guidelines regarding the gestures and remote effects for an application for handheld multi-touch devices that enables a presenter to communicate such gestures.