We all hear about Big Data and how it is changing industries and allowing companies like Target to stalk their customers, but do we interact with Big Data in our everyday routines?
Here are two examples of how we are interacting and creating Big Data every day!
Every time you go to your local coffee shop and order your special little cup of delight, you are creating data. The reason we call it data is because you are giving the company information about its customers. Check out this podcast and learn how you are helping coffee companies become more efficient through Big Data just by buying your daily cup of Joe.
Another example of our frequent run ins with Big Data is buying liquor. We all love it and drink it, but how do distributors know what kinds of people like certain types of liquor? Big Data shows liquor companies and distributors how to best sell their product and who their most profitable demographic is. Learn more about how Big Data is revolutionizing liquor distribution through this podcast!
It is that time again where there are relentless adds, phone calls and commercials about the presidential campaign. The reason for this? You cannot win a presidency if no one knows who you are. For years this has been the method of gaining recognition in almost any campaign, so how can one candidate get ahead? Big Data.
Everyone else is using Big Data to gain competitive advantage so why shouldn’t presidential candidates? Well that is exactly what presidential candidate, Ted Cruz thought before implementing Big Data into his campaign. I don’t have a stance on who the next president should be, but I do know that Big Data is aiding Cruz’s campaign greatly.
Big Data has been shown to help candidates be more effective by gaining insights into voter preferences. Some people prefer to learn about candidates via phone call, while others may enjoy advertisements by mail. Big Data can show which people are more likely to respond better to different methods. With this sort of insight, candidates can make better decisions and save a lot more money by strategically promoting themselves.
Structured data is simply the opposite of structured data- data that is traditionally organized in columns and rows, and stored in fields of a database. This often includes text that is not structured in any particular form or order, such as an email.
Examples:
Examples of unstructured data include: Word documents, videos, email messages, audio files, presentations, webpages, photos and many other types of business documents.
Although these files may have an organizational structure, it does not mean that their data will fit cleanly into a database, like the data from an excel file.
The Importance of Unstructured Data:
It is estimated that 80-90% of an organization’s data is unstructured. Because data can be very valuable to an organization, by providing insight to decision makers, the unstructured component of data analytics should not be left out. Businesses should learn to manage all their data, not just their structured data.
Mining Unstructured Data:
Like a diamond, unstructured data is very valuable, but also very difficult to “mine.” Because of the difficulty, many software solutions have been developed in attempt to help organizations extract information from unstructured data. However, many find that such software, like Hadoop, is not worth all the Hype.
Big Data has gained its name from the impact that large amount of data sets have and the insights they hold, but there are even bigger big data out there that we have been unable to tap into. There is an unbelievable amount of data produced daily and only continues to grow with the development of new technology.
Researchers at MIT have recently developed an algorithm that has the potential to analyze data sets that are so large, we do not currently have the equipment necessary to tackle them. The idea behind the algorithms is geometry and the use of topography to pick out basic features that are universal to any data set, no matter the size.
With this sort of topological approach, researchers can tap into the large, scary, interconnected data and pull out connections that are characteristic of all data. The issue now is that there is not a machine that can compute this information fast enough for it to be at all functional, but there are talks of one being developed soon.
Once the quantum mechanics is developed and can be paired with this topological approach, we will be able to understand connections like never before like global connections in the internet and even pathways of the human brain.
Now that the “sacred leaf” is legal in a few states, marijuana is a very popular subject. The marijuana industry has boomed since its legalization in Colorado and Washington State in 2012. Dispensaries and grow houses have become a tourist spectacle, there are even weed tours one can take to visit differing stores and try out the products…
As the average American I hear gas and oil and automatically picture money flying out of my wallet. Assuming that this is the mindset of most of our population, it is hard to feel bad for the oil and gas companies when we hear they are losing money. The problem is that most people don’t look at both sides of the situation- the lower our gas prices become, the more employees that being laid off in the oil and gas industry…
Data breaches are even scarier today as the risk level increases with more data and devices. We all are acquainted with a Twitter, Facebook or email hack, but how much more critical would these hacks be if the data breach revolved around our personally identifiable data or financial data…
In a series of interviews within the travel industry, the authors of the study from the Society of Consumer Affairs are intent to show how Big Data can be used to increase impact and reduce friction across disciplines, both within a company and the industry. Personalization is a key tenant of Big Data; there is a plethora of information about particular consumers, transactions or destinations, the reality is one of detailed, accurate personalization…
Recent Comments