A taxonomy of interactive tasks

Last month I wrote about different taxonomies of interactive features. Today Flowing Data links to a exciting article by Jeffrey Heer and Ben Shneiderman who propose a typology of 12 tasks grouped into three categories:

1. data and view specification (visualize, filter, sort, and derive);
2. view manipulation (select, navigate, coordinate, and organize); and
3. analysis process and provenance (record, annotate, share, and guide).

The authors write:

These categories incorporate the critical tasks that enable iterative visual analysis, including visualization creation, interactive querying, multiview coordination, history, and collaboration. Validating and evolving this taxonomy is a community project that proceeds through feedback, critique, and refinement.