Towards a Periodic Table of Gestural Interaction.

The periodic table is the first means of chemists to structure their field of research. It comprises all chemical elements with their most prominent features. The system is so important that students of chemistry usually learn it by heart during their university education. Scientists in the field of human-computer interaction lack such a concise system that covers all aspects of gestural interaction. Although considerable research exists, scientists rarely agree on common aspects and systems to classify, collect, and share their research. This position paper attempts to pacify rivaling scientific views towards gestural interaction and its properties, benefits, and applications. By collecting meta-properties of multimodal gestures, the proposed periodic table tries to provide a common ground for classification and debate among researchers and practitioners working with gestural interfaces.