My Network World op-ed: business benefits of data visualization

Ooops! Got so caught up in politics and family stuff that I didn’t realize my op-ed on the business benefits of data visualization ran last week in Network World’s online edition.

As the title (”Data visualization: the under-appreciated Web 2.0 tool”) suggests with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer, I believe data visualization is both a tremendously important tool and tremendously under-appreciated. It deserves more consideration, alongside wikis, blogs, tags etc. as ways for corporations and government agencies alike to encourage collaboration, improve policy discusssions, and evaluate programs.

The op-ed grew out of a comment to Jon Udell by the DC officials responsible for establishing its Citywide Data Warehouse, the more than 150 real-time data streams the city releases on a real-time basis. The officials said they’d used the same data streams internally to encourage collaboration and improve program collaboration.

That got me thinking.

As enthusiastic as I am about directly involving the public in “transparent government” initiatives to harness the “wisdom of crowds” in policy debate and analysis, it made sense to me that the first place to try these techniques would be behind the firewall, both because it would help eliminate possible problems with the initiatives before actively involving the public and because government employees also need tools and methods that will allow them to identify program overlaps or — more optimistically — synergies and to involve and empower all workers.

In the op-ed, I identified a range of benefits that it seemed to me warranted use of data visualizations within corporations and government agencies:

  • Take reams of data you collect but are only analyzed historically …… Instead, portray them dynamically, in real time, where they can help make immediate decisions.
  • Facilitate gathering perspectives from others, especially in free-flowing exchanges that can evoke the “wisdom of crowds” phenomenon, in which the final product of everyone’s contributions is more insightful than the sum of its parts.
  • Empower younger employees, and/or those with a special passion about or insights into more obscure issues, who might be reluctant in more hierarchical, linear processes to share their perspectives.
  • Rapidly identify “outlier” data, which may identify flaws in marketing or product design that don’t reach these potential audiences.
  • Relate a wide range of data, such as time, location and sales volume, that formerly were treated in isolation from each other but would be more informative if considered simultaneously.
  • Consider the relative benefits and drawbacks of alternative strategies by making it easy to compare and contrast them.
  • Understand, through geo-spatial representations, possible public opposition to siting of new facilities because of proximity to neighborhoods, landmarks, etc.

I concluded that those trying to implement internal data visualization project would encounter the same objections that are often raised about other Web 2.0 initiatives:

However, there’s an aura of inevitability to the change: after all, younger workers are probably already fooling around with data visualization on their own, and will do so with or without official blessing.

I suggested that, rather than trying to impose full-scale implementation of data visualization company- or agency-wide, a better strategy would be to allow a small group of early-adopters already champing at the bit to try some pilot programs. The success of those pilots, and the enthusiasm of the participants will probably lead to pressure from others to become involved, speeding the wholesale adoption of these great new tools.

As the bumper sticker advises: visualize swirled peas!

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