Workshop on Sketch tools for diagramming

Diagrams are widely used as abstract models of systems. The act of creating the initial diagram is a common problem solving strategy. Most diagrams are conceived and created with an old-fashioned pen on a piece of blank paper or a whiteboard. Current widget based tools, in contrast, are unsuitable for early design support because of the constraints they place on the user. Sketch diagramming tools provide the unrestrained interface of paper and the document preparation support of computers. However there are many outstanding challenges before we can provide really good sketch tools for tasks such as diagramming. The goal of the workshop is to foster interaction between the sketch tools, visual languages, and diagrams communities to facilitate an exchange of results and challenging problems. From the sketch tool perspective there are three big challenges: an interface that is as easy to use as paper; reducing the error rates for recognition engines; and toolkits to reduce the effort required to integrate sketching to existing diagramming tools. Researchers working with sketch tools, ink recognition, and diagramming tools are invited to contribute to this workshop. Anticipated submissions are position papers with emphasis on results from actual research. Appropriate submissions include both papers describing completed research results as well as work-in-progress papers, presenting preliminary or intermediate results. General topics of interest include, but are not restricted to: • User interfaces for sketch tools • Sketch recognition algorithms • Diagram syntax and semantics for sketch recognition • User study tools for sketch recognition systems • Software architecture for effective sketch recognition • Sketch toolkits • Applications of sketch toolkits to particular problems • Pen-based diagramming tools • Visualization of hand-drawn diagrams (effects of diagrams visual fidelity) • Comparative studies between diagramming tools (traditional paper, widget and/or sketch) We especially solicit submissions in these areas, and plan to organize discussions on these subjects at the workshop. If you submit a paper in these areas, please indicate it in the keywords. The program committee is happy to advise on the appropriateness of a particular subject.