Conversational Gesture

A conversational gesture is an atomic building block of human-computer dialogue — a simple, well-defined interaction pattern that enables communication between user and machine. In graphical user interfaces, conversational gestures are realised through widgets such as list boxes, sliders, checkboxes, radio buttons, and scroll bars. The concept, developed by T. V. Raman in auditory interface research, provides a framework for translating visual interactions into non-visual modalities: by first identifying the conversational gestures in a visual interface, designers can then map each gesture to an appropriate auditory, speech, or haptic equivalent. This approach is more systematic than ad hoc screen reader adaptations because it focuses on the functional purpose of interaction rather than its visual presentation.