Big Data

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INTRODUCTION
Big Data is regarded as one of the most popular emerging technologies. Our day to day comprises of several activities and most of these activities relate to the way we interact with people, how we shop and search for things. There is now an increased awareness on how to log all this data and draw meaningful insights and conclusions out of it. As a result, there are a number of companies that accumulate data in large quantities. It is not just the quantity, but the speed in which this data is being collected that contributes to the notion of Big Data.
The three characteristics of Big Data include:
- High Volume: A reason why big data cannot be accommodated and operated by existing systems is its massive volume that is growing on day to day basis.
- High Velocity: The speed at which the data is being captured and is being read is contributing to the complexity of Big Data.
- High Variety: The data that is being streamed can be either structured or unstructured, for e.g., Text, Audio and Video that adds to the complexity of any analysis that could be done on the data.
A significant drift could be noticed in the fields of science, sports, advertising and health in incorporating data-driven knowledge discovery processes to support and improve their business and systems. Not just this, A Stanford professor has studied the impact and relevance of data abundance in the political science area as well. As per his research, he mentions that the computer automated analysis of political speeches, online newspaper and blog postings can be insightful in driving political decisions and coming up with new ideas as well.
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH
The giants in the Silicon Valley, Google and Facebook have been collecting for ye...

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...s with the existing data warehouses and legacy systems.
Despite of all these challenges in place, a vast majority of the organizations (89%) consider big data to be an opportunity that supports data exploration and predictive analytics that could aid discover new ways to identify potential customers, markets, reduce costs and support operations. A small minority (11%) consider it a problem because of its sheer size.
CONCLUSION
Any new technology could be assessed only with the utilization and effectiveness over the long run. This could be expected only when scientists and engineers develop a better understanding on what Big Data could do and what not. It is always recommended to look through all the hype and derive decisions with a sense of caution and sensitivity. As Alexei Efros puts it, “Big Data is a fickle, coy mistress inviting, yet not without risk”[1].

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