Charting the Immersive Self: A Scoping Review of Immersive Personal Visualisation
Authors
Thomas James Davidson (Emory University), Zihan Dai (Emory University), Yalong Yang (Georgia Institute of Technology), Emily Wall (Emory University), Keke Wu (University of Maryland)
Presentation
- Session
- This feels amazingly real!
- Time
- Friday, Nov 13, 09:12 – 09:24 (US/Eastern) · session 08:00 – 09:30
- Location
- Hall America north
Keywords
Personal informatics, visualisation, extended reality, immersive personal visualisation
Abstract
Visualisation is increasingly used to help people explore and reflect on their personal data. However, most work on personal visualisation relies on screen-based solutions that can be hard to integrate into real-world experiences. Immersive visualisation technologies offer solutions to these challenges. In this paper we explore how combining immersive approaches with personal visualisation presents new opportunities for engaging with personal data through situated, affective, and experiential interaction. We examine this emergent space of Immersive Personal Visualisation through a scoping review of 21 studies. We provide a characterisation of existing work in this domain with our analysis revealing five structural trends: an emphasis on late-stage reflective engagement in the personal informatics lifecycle; a prevalence for affective forms of data engagement; a focus on real-time data experiences; widespread use of abstract and metaphorical visual encoding; and a tendency for users to remain passive viewers in implemented systems. Building on these findings, we expose key opportunities for advancing immersive personal visualisation, highlighting the role of interaction design, interpretable visualisation, and lifecycle-spanning engagement. We conclude by outlining a future research agenda for advancing immersive personal visualisation and argue that, as XR technologies become more accessible and pervasive, this emerging space has the potential to reshape how people access, understand, and live with their data.
For Practitioners
Whilst we describe a very nascent research area that is not currently a heavy focus of existing practitioner work we believe our work is relevant to those working in the XR space, especially those working with consumer electronics and seeking to design products in this space for end-users to interact with data.