Haptic Data Visualization and Creative Thought

Recently, there has been a large push for the use of multimodal interfaces to enhance data visualization. However, supporting data visualization displays with haptic feedback has been slower to develop. In the current paper, we argue that the variables traditionally used by human factors practitioners to assess performance of visualization displays will unfairly bias researchers and designers away from the haptic modality. Instead, researchers will be better served to assess the influence of haptic displays on some of the core strengths of visualization: the depth at which the underlying data may be synthesized and the level to which the display enhances novel or creative hypothesis generation.