IBM's Data-Visualization Champion

At Big Blue, Martin Wattenberg is developing leading-edge projects to bolster the ability to read, share, and understand data in new ways

by Reena Jana

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"I see it now! Aha!" exclaims IBM (IBM) researcher Martin Wattenberg dramatically. He flourishes his sentence with a good-natured laugh. He's describing how he believes a layperson should ideally react to data visualizations such as, say, a world map emblazoned with up-to-the-minute population data or a bubble chart of billionaires in various geographic regions. A software programmer and artist whose computer-based work has been shown at venues such as New York's Whitney Museum of American Art and who holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley, Wattenberg is a polymath striving to make the field of data visualization more aesthetic and social than typical ho-hum Microsoft (MSFT) Excel spreadsheets and charts.

If Wattenberg has his way, most of us will use some form of the next generation of experimental graphics software that he is working on at IBM to create eye-popping visuals. And we'll react to them with the revelatory joy of an inventor experiencing an "aha!" moment in the lab.

When Wattenberg, who grew up in Amherst, Mass., talks about the potential of charts—which usually bring to mind snooze-inducing materials presented in PowerPoint presentations or corporate annual reports—he adds audible exclamation points to his descriptive sentences. His goal is to "democratize data" via Web-based software applications that allow anyone, from a junior high school student to a C-suite executive, to present statistics or other information in elegant, engaging visuals, which they can subsequently post online with ease. The data can range from the recurrence of words in the best-selling Harry Potter books to the comparative fuel efficiency of various automobiles.

"The Wisdom of Crowds"

The upside for businesses? Companies can efficiently tap the much-touted "wisdom of crowds", both from within and outside of a corporation, if those crowds have the tools to create their own thoughtful data visualizations. In other words, customers can in effect deliver invaluable market research; employees can more quickly organize information; and managers can more easily analyze data from both of these sources. IBM, in fact, is already deploying a firewall-protected version of Wattenberg's latest online data-visualization project, Many Eyes, among its staff, to mine for data among its employees.

Wattenberg designed Many Eyes with collaborator and IBM colleague Fernanda B. Viégas. Earlier this year, they debuted a public, alpha version of the program, which allows users to upload any set of data to a Web site and transform the information into online graphics, ranging from tree maps (a series of color-coded, hierarchically organized squares) to network diagrams (points labeled with information, arranged in compelling patterns and connected via lines to illustrate relationships).

The site also includes a discussion area where users post comments about the visualizations and engage in debates on the data represented. The project isn't just about creating pretty pictures, although the graphs are eye-catching. These are neat, visual condensations of information that prompt deep analysis.

Traditionally, complex data visualization has been the realm of scientists and financial analysts. Sure, more and more students and businesspeople of all stripes are using programs such as Excel to make simple graphs to present their research in classrooms and boardrooms. But Wattenberg believes that as information becomes available via online archives, Web search engines, and affordable computing and Internet access, data visualization will quickly become a new form of literacy. "It is a bad situation if only a few experts have a way of understanding data," Wattenberg says. "Think about reading. [Communities function] better if everyone can read. I believe data visualization, like reading, makes people smarter. When they have access to more information, they can have more interesting conversations."