Every day we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data. 10 million blu-ray discs worth of data per day, with the figure growing each and every day.
Big data represents the movement towards handling gigantic datasets, drawing analysis from the everyday and capturing, processing, storing and analysing big data to optimise our lives.
Now Vouchercloud has created an infographic that shows big data can be characterised by five Vs – Volume, Velocity, Variety, Veracity and Value:
Volume tackles the sheer weight and mass of all the data being created – which considering we create more data every minute than was created from the beginning of time until 2008, is an awful lot of data to store, organise and handle. Velocity covers the speed at which this data can be created – and more importantly, analysed. If you can get a hold of data and draw analysis before it gets lost in the aether, or becomes too big and messy to handle, then you have an instant advantage.
Variety gives a nod towards the massively wide array of data we produce with hugely varied sources, purposes and intentions. 80% of the world’s data is unstructured, meaning it can’t simply be wedged into a table and shared and understood easily (or is even data of that nature, with video files and social media updates among some of the modern burden for data storage). Big data allows for unstructured data to be handled alongside structured data with relative ease.
Veracity and Value are the final two Vs, covering the utter messiness of modern data and the value that can be derived from the data. Long story short is that a lack of quality, usability and accuracy in data can truly dent its worthiness, with big data making data more worthwhile every day – though, naturally, any major time investment should be dedicated to data with a good value – whether it be commercial, social or otherwise.
How does Big Data influence our everyday lives?
Certain sectors are really seeing the benefit of big data – and the better access to, handling of and implementation of information that it provides.
For example, the wide assortment of health-focused apps allow you to collect and collate niche datasets – like sleep duration and quality, and steps taken per day – and organise them into useful weekly, monthly and yearly snippets of insight that you can compare with others all over the world. This collection and organisation of ‘information’ – for example, how far you walk every day – is the perfect example of collating data that would otherwise not exist and use it to our advantage.
This also applies to our household bills and finances, travel and shopping. Everyday big data can change the world just as much as mammoth datasets and intelligent analysis on a national scale.
This infographic first appeared on Vouchercloud.com
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