NLVIZ: Exploring Research Opportunities for Natural Language, Text, and Data Visualization

Natural language processing (NLP) has evolved as a promising field for visual analysis and communication.

The applications of NLP for supporting various aspects of the visual analysis workflow include exploring ways to enrich the semantics of data, supporting interaction modalities that help people naturally “ask” questions of their data, generating data summaries and insight reports, and helping readers take away key information from charts or dashboards, among others. With data analysis and communication being more important than ever, how do we treat natural language and text as first-class citizens in helping people interact with data and share their findings? How do we couple language and charts to make the data more accessible to a variety of audiences with different needs, capabilities, and skills? With the advent of Large Language Models, systems now have an unprecedented capability of interpreting language commands and engaging in conversations with people. But can NLP techniques and interactive visualizations work in concert to support an analytical conversation? As the platforms and channels for exploring data go beyond the desktop to chat interfaces, augmented and virtual reality environments, mobile, and large displays, how do we better understand user intent, modalities, and context to make these interactions more fluid and meaningful?

Addressing these questions calls for research at the intersection of human-computer interaction, information visualization, and NLP, three fields with natural synergies but rather infrequent meetings.

This workshop will assemble an interdisciplinary community that promotes collaboration across these fields, explores research opportunities and challenges, and continues to establish an agenda for NLP research specifically for data visualization.