# DATAWEAVER: Authoring Data-Driven Narratives through the Integrated Composition of Visualization and Text

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.22946 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.22946/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 18 of its 62 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Mar 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [NL4DV: A Toolkit for Generating Analytic Specifications for Data Visualization from Natural Language Queries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.10723/) (2020)
- [Accessible Visualization via Natural Language Descriptions: A Four-Level Model of Semantic Content](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04406/) (2021)
- [Calliope: Automatic Visual Data Story Generation from a Spreadsheet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.09975/) (2020)
- [FlowSense: A Natural Language Interface for Visual Data Exploration within a Dataflow System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.00681/) (2019)
- [DataTales: Investigating the use of Large Language Models for Authoring Data-Driven Articles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04076/) (2023)
- [Data Player: Automatic Generation of Data Videos with Narration-Animation Interplay](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04703/) (2023)
- [Where Are We So Far? Understanding Data Storytelling Tools from the Perspective of Human-AI Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15723/) (2023)
- [Erato: Cooperative Data Story Editing via Fact Interpolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.02529/) (2022)
- [InkSight: Leveraging Sketch Interaction for Documenting Chart Findings in Computational Notebooks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.07922/) (2023)
- [Kori: Interactive Synthesis of Text and Charts in Data Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.04203/) (2021)
- [The Stories We Tell About Data: Media Types for Data-Driven Storytelling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.00047/) (2022)
- [Notable: On-the-fly Assistant for Data Storytelling in Computational Notebooks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.04059/) (2023)
- [MEDLEY: Intent-based Recommendations to Support Dashboard Composition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.03175/) (2022)
- [CrossData: Leveraging Text-Data Connections for Authoring Data Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11639/) (2023)
- [DIVI: Dynamically Interactive Visualization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.17814/) (2023)
- [Epigraphics: Message-Driven Infographics Authoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10152/) (2024)
- ["The Data Says Otherwise"-Towards Automated Fact-checking and Communication of Data Claims](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.10713/) (2024)
- [DASH: A Bimodal Data Exploration Tool for Interactive Text and Visualizations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.01011/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Multimodal DeepResearcher: Generating Text-Chart Interleaved Reports From Scratch with Agentic Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.02454/) (2025)
- [Agentic Visualization: Extracting Agent-based Design Patterns from Visualization Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19101/) (2025)
- [Semantic Prompting: Agentic Incremental Narrative Refinement through Spatial Semantic Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19971/) (2026)
- [Chart Deception in Vision-Language Models: From Vulnerability to Mitigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.22600/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Data-driven storytelling has gained prominence in journalism and other data reporting fields. However, the process of creating these stories remains challenging, often requiring the integration of effective visualizations with compelling narratives to form a cohesive, interactive presentation. To help streamline this process, we present an integrated authoring framework and system, DataWeaver, that supports both visualization-to-text and text-to-visualization composition. DataWeaver enables users to create data narratives anchored to data facts derived from "call-out" interactions, i.e., user-initiated highlights of visualization elements that prompt relevant narrative content. In addition to this "vis-to-text" composition, DataWeaver also supports a "text-initiated" approach, generating relevant interactive visualizations from existing narratives. Key findings from an evaluation with 13 participants highlighted the utility and usability of DataWeaver and the effectiveness of its integrated authoring framework. The evaluation also revealed opportunities to enhance the framework by refining filtering mechanisms and visualization recommendations and better support authoring creativity by introducing advanced customization options.