Research on sketching with computers dates to the earliest days of modern computing. Recent work combined with advances in hardware and software technologies promises, finally, significant impact. The kinds, qualities, and purposes of sketch-based interaction, or visual languages, vary as widely as do other forms of language. In addition to practical applications in every domain, advances in sketch-based interaction and modeling can help us understand and support visual thinking.
2009 Visual Languages and Visual Thinking: Sketch Based Interaction and Modeling, Gross MD, Eurographics/ACM Symposium on Sketch Based Interaction and Modeling on Sketch-Based Interaction and Modeling (keynote address), New Orleans, August 1 2009 [pdf]