Interactivity is often overlooked as a vital component of data visualization, but it is essential to move visual work from providing information to supplying insight. This talk will cover the basic principles of interaction design – from Fitts's Law to creating an interactive grammar for exploration, explore several case studies, and, finally, discuss methods to assess the effectiveness of interaction design. We will go beyond tooltips, brushing, and scrolling, and look at the principles behind these techniques, looking at work from Heer, Bostock, and others. In addition to learning best practices, and seeing them in the context of well-known products, we develop a framework for interaction criticism; ways to assess interaction utility and effectiveness.
