Typically, one would start by adding data—some project-focused new data—to IBM Watson, but for now, as we are just reviewing the basics of the Watson interface, we'll mention that IBM Watson offers a pretty extensive library of sample data, which is always available to you to use in your efforts to gain an understanding of how the basic functions and features of the tool work.

So, with those thoughts in mind we'll move right along, starting here with a discussion on Explore, which is, starting from left to right, the first IBM Watson feature available on the start-up bar.

IBM Watson Explore is designed to allow you to effortlessly integrate the use of visualizations in an effort to gain an understanding of the data you are interested in, so that you can notice patterns and relationships within that data. These can then have major impacts on the business or problem you are solving for.

Watson Analytics makes it easy to jump right in and get going with the process of data exploration without requiring a lot of setup or data preparation.

After clicking Explore, the Create new exploration dialog (shown in the following screenshot) offers you a list of existing datasets (if you've already added any to Watson) to begin exploring as well as the ability to add your data by browsing to a file or selecting Twitter as the data's source, and finally, you can also explore the Sample data offered by Watson: