# Intents, Techniques, and Components: a Unified Analysis of Interaction Authoring Tasks in Data Visualization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.01399 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.01399/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 2 Sep 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Three Modalities, Two Design Probes, One Prototype, and No Vision: Experience-Based Co-Design of a Multi-modal 3D Data Visualization Tool](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.09426/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

There is a growing interest in designing tools to support interactivity specification and authoring in data visualization. To develop expressive and flexible tools, we need theories and models that describe the task space of interaction authoring. Although multiple taxonomies and frameworks exist for interactive visualization, they primarily focus on how visualizations are used, not how interactivity is composed. To fill this gap, we conduct an analysis of 592 interaction units from 47 real-world visualization applications. Based on the analysis, we present a unified analysis of interaction authoring tasks across three levels of description: intents, representative techniques, and low-level implementation components. We examine our framework's descriptive, evaluative, and generative powers for critiquing existing interactivity authoring tools and informing new tool development.