Matthew Brehmer, HCI and information visualization researcher

matt brehmer (he/him) is a human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher focusing on data visualization: he designs, implements, and evaluates new ways to communicate and collaborate around data.

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in Fall 2024, he joined the school of computer science at the University of Waterloo as an assistant professor, where he is a member of the HCI lab and the director of the ubietous information experiences research group… information about joining the group can be found on the ubixgroup.ca website.

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prior to joining Waterloo, he was a lead researcher at Tableau, and before that, a member of the EPIC HCI research group at Microsoft Research… his work has been recognized with Test of Time and Best Paper Awards at IEEE VIS as well as Honorable Mentions at IEEE VIS and ACM UIST… he has also served on several program committees including those for IEEE VIS, ACM CHI, Computation + Journalism, and Information+.

selected projects

Tableau for visionOS

Seeing and understanding data in the medium of spatial computing.

tableau youtube channel | tableau.com blog | available on visionos testflight

Tableau Gestures

Augmented webcam video presentations with interactive visualization overlays.

video | tableau.com blog

Diatoms

A technique for generating design inspiration for data visualization, demonstrated as a Dashboard Extension for Tableau.

video

The Information in Our Hands

Webcam-based pose recognition for controlling dynamic data visualization.

video

Interactive and Dynamic Visualization on Mobile Phones

Demonstrations of gesture-based interaction with dynamic data visualization on mobile phones, as well as responsive trend and range visualization.

tilt + dial interaction github repo | tilt + dial video | trend vis github repo | range vis github repo

Microsoft Timeline Storyteller

An expressive visual storytelling environment for presenting timelines in the browser or in Power BI.

power bi custom visual | github repo | video gallery | data insights summit keynote demo

publications

also available via google scholar

RemixTape: Enriching Narratives about Metrics with Semantic Alignment and Contextual Recommendation

Matthew Brehmer, Mar Drouhard, and Arjun Srinivasan.
To appear in the Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE Pacific Visualization Conference (PacificVis).

conference paper (preprint) | supplemental video | tutorial video

Video-Conferencing Beyond Screen-Sharing and Thumbnail Webcam Videos: Gesture-Aware Augmented Reality Video for Data-Rich Remote Presentations

Matthew Brehmer.
Position paper for the ACM GROUP '25 Workshop on "Beyond Video-Conferencing": Telepresence Technologies for Extending Expertise Reach and Specialised Skill Sharing.

paper

VisConductor: Affect-Varying Widgets for Animated Data Storytelling in Gesture-Aware Augmented Video Presentation

Temiloluwa (Paul) Femi-Gege, Matthew Brehmer, and Jian Zhao.
In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM), Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS) 2024.

conference paper (preprint) | acm library (open access) | supplemental video

Augmented Multimodal Interaction for Synchronous Presentation, Collaboration, and Education with Remote Audiences

Matthew Brehmer, Maxime Cordeil, Christophe Hurter, and Takayuki Itoh.
NII Shonan Seminar 213 (June 24 – 27 2024, Report Published October 2024).

seminar report

Bringing Data into the Conversation: Adapting Content from Business Intelligence Dashboards for Threaded Collaboration Platforms

Hyeok Kim, Arjun Srinivasan, and Matthew Brehmer.
In Short Paper Proceedings of IEEE VIS 2024.

conference paper (preprint)

The Data-Wink Ratio: Emoji Encoder for Generating Semantically-Resonant Unit Charts

Matthew Brehmer, Vidya Setlur, Zoe, and Michael Correll.
In Proceedings of the IEEE VIS 2024 Workshop on Data Storytelling in an Era of Generative AI (Gen4DS).

workshop paper (preprint) | supplemental video

TimeSplines: Sketch-based Authoring of Flexible and Idiosyncratic Timelines

Anna Offenwanger, Matthew Brehmer, Fanny Chevalier, and Theophanis Tsandilas.
In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2023).
Best Paper Award

journal paper (preprint) | supplemental video | timesplines web app

Visualizing the Weird and the Eerie

Matthew Brehmer.
In proceedings of the alt.VIS workshop at IEEE VIS 2023.

workshop paper (arxiv preprint)

Combining Voice and Gesture for Presenting Data to Remote Audiences

Arjun Srinivasan and Matthew Brehmer.
In proceedings of the MERCADO workshop at IEEE VIS 2023.

workshop paper (preprint)

The MERCADO Workshop at IEEE VIS 2023: Multimodal Experiences for Remote Communication Around Data Online

Matthew Brehmer, Maxime Cordeil, Christophe Hurter, and Takayuki Itoh.

workshop proposal (arxiv preprint) | workshop website

Inspiration at the Roll of the Dice: An Exercise in Aleatoric Visualization Design

Matthew Brehmer.
In Nightingale Issue #2 (Winter 2022): "Inspiration".

order magazine

Augmented Chironomia for Presenting Data to Remote Audiences

Brian D. Hall, Lyn Bartram, and Matthew Brehmer.
In proceedings of the 2022 ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST).
Best Paper Honorable Mention Award

conference paper (arxiv preprint) | acm library (open access) | supplemental video

Generative Design Inspiration for Glyphs with Diatoms

Matthew Brehmer, Robert Kosara, and Carmen Hull.
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2021).

journal paper (arxiv preprint) | ieee library (open access) | supplemental video

From Jam Session to Recital: Synchronous Communication and Collaboration Around Data in Organizations

Matthew Brehmer and Robert Kosara.
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2021).

journal paper (arxiv preprint) | ieee library (open access) | supplemental video

Interacting with Visualization on Mobile Devices

Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, John Stasko, and Christian Tominski.
A chapter in Mobile Data Visualization, edited by Bongshin Lee, Raimund Dachselt, Petra Isenberg, Eun Kyoung Choe, 2021.

order book | dagstuhl seminar report

Responsive Visualization Design for Mobile Devices

Tom Horak, Wolfgang Aigner, Matthew Brehmer, Alark Joshi, and Christian Tominski.
A chapter in Mobile Data Visualization, edited by Bongshin Lee, Raimund Dachselt, Petra Isenberg, Eun Kyoung Choe, 2021.

order book | dagstuhl seminar report

QualDash: Adaptable Generation of Visualisation Dashboards for Healthcare Quality Improvement

Mai Elshehaly, Rebecca Randell, Matthew Brehmer, Lynn McVey, Natasha Alvarado, Chris P. Gale, and Roy A. Ruddle.
In Volume 27, Issue 2 (Feb. 2021) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2020).

journal paper (arxiv preprint) | ieee library

Orchard: Exploring Multivariate Heterogeneous Networks on Mobile Phones

Philipp Eichmann, Darren Edge, Nathan Evans, Bongshin Lee, Matthew Brehmer, and Christopher White.
In Computer Graphics Forum / Proceedings of the Eurographics Conference on Visualization (EuroVis 2020).

conference paper (preprint) | video | eurographics library

Inking Your Insights: Investigating Digital Externalization Behaviors During Data Analysis

Yea-Seul Kim, Nathalie Henry Riche, Bongshin Lee, Matthew Brehmer, Michel Pahud, Ken Hinckley, and Jessica Hullman.
In Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS 2019).

conference paper (preprint) | acm library

A Comparative Evaluation of Animation and Small Multiples for Trend Visualization on Mobile Phones

Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, Petra Isenberg, and Eun Kyoung Choe.
In Volume 26, Issue 1 (Jan. 2020) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2019).

journal paper (arxiv preprint) | ieee library

Critical Reflections on Visualization Authoring Systems

Arvind Satyanarayan, Bongshin Lee, Donghao Ren, Jeffrey Heer, John Stasko, John R. Thompson, Matthew Brehmer, and Zhicheng Liu.
In Volume 26, Issue 1 (Jan. 2020) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2019).

journal paper (arxiv preprint) | ieee library | vis-tools-reflections.github.io

Thumbnails for Data Stories: A Survey of Current Practices

Hwiyeon Kim, Juyoung Oh, Yunha Han, Sungahn Ko, Matthew Brehmer, and Bum Chul Kwon.
In the Short Paper Proceedings of IEEE VIS 2019.

short paper (arxiv preprint)

DataToon: Drawing Dynamic Network Comics With Pen + Touch Interaction

Nam Wook Kim, Nathalie Henry Riche, Benjamin Bach, Guanpeng A. Xu, Matthew Brehmer, Ken Hinckley, Michel Pahud, Haijun Xia, Michael McGuffin, and Hanspeter Pfister.
In proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2019).

conference paper (preprint) | acm library

Timeline Storyteller: The Design & Deployment of an Interactive Authoring Tool for Expressive Timeline Narratives

Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, Nathalie Henry Riche, David Tittsworth, Kate Lytvynets, Darren Edge, and Christopher White.
In Proceedings of the 2019 Computation + Journalism Symposium (C+J 2019).

symposium paper (preprint)

Visualizing Ranges over Time on Mobile Phones: A Task-Based Crowdsourced Evaluation

Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, Petra Isenberg, and Eun Kyoung Choe.
In Volume 25, Issue 1 (Jan. 2019) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2018).

journal paper (preprint) | ieee library

Charticulator: Interactive Construction of Bespoke Chart Layouts

Donghao Ren, Bongshin Lee, and Matthew Brehmer.
In Volume 25, Issue 1 (Jan. 2019) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2018).
Best Paper Honorable Mention Award

journal paper (preprint) | ieee library | charticulator.com

Reflecting on the Evaluation of Visualization Authoring Systems

Donghao Ren, Bongshin Lee, Matthew Brehmer, and Nathalie Henry Riche.
In the workshop proceedings of BELIV 2018: Evaluation and Beyond - Methodological Approaches for Visualization.

preprint

What's the Difference?: Evaluating Variants of Multi-Series Bar Charts for Visual Comparison Tasks

Arjun Srinivasan, Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, and Steven Drucker.
In the proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018).

conference paper (preprint) | acm library

Data Visualization on Mobile Devices (Workshop)

Bongshin Lee, Matthew Brehmer, Eun Kyoung Choe, Petra Isenberg, Ricardo Langer, and Raimund Dachselt.
In the extended abstract proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018).

extended abstract (preprint) | acm library | mobilevis.github.io

Evaluating Data-Driven Stories & Storytelling Tools

Fereshteh Amini *, Matthew Brehmer *, Gordon Bolduan, Christina Elmer, and Benjamin Wiederkehr ( * equal contribution ).
A chapter in Data-Driven Storytelling, edited by Nathalie Henry Riche, Christophe Hurter, Nicholas Diakopoulos, and Sheelagh Carpendale, 2018.

order book | dagstuhl seminar report

Demonstrating the Value of Visualization: Highlights from the 2017 PacificVis Visual Data Storytelling Contest

Matthew Brehmer, Kyungwon Lee, Ivan Viola, Jinwook Seo, and Bongshin Lee.
Poster at IEEE VIS 2017.

poster | abstract | video preview

Timelines Revisited: A Design Space and Considerations for Expressive Storytelling

Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, Benjamin Bach, Nathalie Henry Riche, and Tamara Munzner.
In Volume 23, Issue 9 (Sept. 2017) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

journal paper | ieee library | timelinesrevisited.github.io

ChartAccent: Annotation for Data-Driven Storytelling

Donghao Ren, Matthew Brehmer, Bongshin Lee, Tobias Höllerer, and Eun Kyoung Choe.
In proceedings of the 2017 IEEE PacificVis Symposium.

conference paper | ieee library | chartaccent.github.io

Why Visualization? Task Abstraction for Analysis and Design

Matthew Brehmer.
University of British Columbia PhD Dissertation (April, 2016).

dissertation (ubc library)

Matches, Mismatches, and Methods: Multiple-View Workflows for Energy Portfolio Analysis

Matthew Brehmer, Jocelyn Ng, Kevin Tate, and Tamara Munzner.
In Volume 22, Issue 1 (Jan. 2016) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2015).

journal paper | ieee library

TimeLineCurator: Interactive Authoring of Visual Timelines from Unstructured Text

Johanna Fulda, Matthew Brehmer, and Tamara Munzner.
In Volume 22, Issue 1 (Jan. 2016) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2015).

journal paper | video | ieee library | timelinecurator.org

C-TOC (Cognitive Testing on Computer): Investigating the Usability and Validity of a Novel Self-administered Cognitive Assessment Tool in Aging and Early Dementia

Claudia Jacova, Joanna McGrenere, Hyunsoo S. Lee, William Wang, Sarah Le Huray, Emily F. Corenblith, Matthew Brehmer, Charlotte Tang, Sherri Hayden, B. Lynn Beattie, and Ging-Yuek R. Hsiung.
In Volume 29, Issue 3 (July 2015) of Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders.

journal paper

Overview: The Design, Adoption, and Analysis of a Visual Document Mining Tool For Investigative Journalists

Matthew Brehmer, Stephen Ingram, Jonathan Stray, and Tamara Munzner.
In Volume 20, Issue 12 (Dec. 2014) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2014).

journal paper | ieee library

Visualizing Dimensionally-Reduced Data: Interviews with Analysts and a Characterization of Task Sequences

Matthew Brehmer, Michael Sedlmair, Stephen Ingram, and Tamara Munzner.
In proceedings of the 2014 ACM BELIV Workshop (Beyond Time and Errors: Novel Evaluation Methods for Visualization).

workshop paper | acm library

Pre-Design Empiricism for Information Visualization: Scenarios, Methods, and Challenges

Matthew Brehmer, Sheelagh Carpendale, Bongshin Lee, and Melanie Tory.
In proceedings of the 2014 ACM BELIV Workshop (Beyond Time and Errors: Novel Evaluation Methods for Visualization).

workshop paper | acm library

A Multi-Level Typology of Abstract Visualization Tasks

Matthew Brehmer and Tamara Munzner.
In Volume 19, Issue 12 (Dec. 2013) of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (IEEE VIS 2013).
Recipient of the IEEE VIS Test of Time Award (2023)

journal paper | ieee library

Dimensionality Reduction in the Wild: Gaps and Guidance

Michael Sedlmair, Matthew Brehmer, Stephen Ingram, and Tamara Munzner.
University of British Columbia Technical Report TR-2012-03 (2012).

technical report

Investigating Interruptions in the Context of Computerised Cognitive Testing for Older Adults

Matthew Brehmer, Joanna McGrenere, Charlotte Tang, and Claudia Jacova.
In proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2012).

conference paper | acm library

Usability and the Effects of Interruption in C-TOC: Self-Administered Cognitive Testing on a Computer

Matthew Brehmer.
University of British Columbia MSc Thesis (2011).

msc thesis

A Tale of Two Studies: Investigating the Impact of Interruptions on Task Performance in Older Adults

Matthew Brehmer, Charlotte Tang, Joanna McGrenere, and Claudia Jacova.
In the work-in-progress proceedings of the the 2011 GRAND NCE AGM.

work-in-progress paper

The Haptic Crayola Effect: Exploring the Role of Naming in Learning Haptic Stimuli

Inwook Hwang, Karon MacLean, Matthew Brehmer, Jeff Hendy, Andreas Sotirkopoulos, and Seungmoon Choi.
In proceedings of the 2011 IEEE World Haptics Conference.

conference paper | ieee library

Activate Your GAIM: A Toolkit for Input in Active Games

Matthew Brehmer, T.C. Nicholas Graham, and Tadeusz Stach.
In proceedings of the 2010 ACM Future Play Conference.

conference paper | acm library | developer guide

Classifying Input for Active Games

Tadeusz Stach, T.C. Nicholas Graham, Matthew Brehmer, and Andreas Hollatz.
In proceedings of the 2009 ACM Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE) Conference.

conference paper | acm library