Social mirrors as social signals: Transforming audio into graphics

This article introduces the concept of a social mirror as a social signal for group interaction. Three examples of social mirrors emphasize different motivations for visualizing vocal conversation: the power of visualization to influence conversation in real time, the addition of anonymous input into group visualization, and idea formation over time. In studies with these social mirrors, participants sat around a table wearing individual lapel microphones, while visualizations of their voices appeared on the tabletop. These studies shed light on the effects of using social mirrors during and after real-time interaction, as well as the implications of the different social-mirror designs. This article is part of a special issue on collaborative visualization.