Interactive visualization of dynamic models

Models in information systems are usually static in the sense that they can be visualized in a traditional way, using for example diagrams. In this paper we consider models which can be visualized only using what we call interactive visualization, that is, a kind of visualization where interaction with the user is essential. The interaction with the user triggers an action potentially changing the models themselves, and therefore we call them dynamic models. Since dynamic models cannot be printed on paper, we introduce a generic visualization tool supporting the interactive visualization of dynamic models. The first key feature of our interactive visualization tool is a distinction between model content on the one hand, and model visualization on the other hand. Using this distinction, we neither represent actions changing the model as a separate control issue, nor do we consider it as part of the visualization only. Instead, we make the actions an integrated part of the model content. We call this second key feature