Big Data – Big Insights
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This informative essay explains what Big Data is and how it is transforming modern life. Every online activity, liking a post, sharing on WhatsApp, visiting websites, shopping or watching videos, is recorded and analysed, creating enormous volumes of data (petabytes and exabytes). Big Data grows in volume, variation, velocity, veracity and value, and Big Data analytics uncovers hidden patterns, correlations and trends that were previously incomprehensible. The essay describes its many uses: location tracking (GPS, logistics), understanding weather patterns and predicting calamities, health care (wearables, diagnosis, tracking epidemics), banking, finance and trading (fraud detection, high-frequency trading), sports analytics, targeted advertising, entertainment and media (Netflix, YouTube recommendations), and education (personalised learning). Big Data is 'a genie in our hands', and it is up to us to use it wisely for the benefit of mankind.
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'Big Data – Big Insights' is an informative essay explaining the concept of Big Data and the revolution it has brought about in almost every field of modern life, from food habits and health care to travel and scientific research.
What is Big Data?
Whatever we do online, liking a post, sharing on WhatsApp, visiting websites, making online purchases or watching videos, is recorded, monitored and analysed, creating a huge amount of data. Big Data can run into petabytes or exabytes, billions to trillions of records from millions of people, drawn from the web, sales, contact centres, social media and mobile data.
This data grows in volume, variation, velocity, veracity and value. It is easy to obtain but so massive that ordinary computing cannot handle it. So 'Big Data analytics', the complex process of examining these vast data sets, is used to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends and customer preferences. What matters is not the amount of data but what organisations do with it.
The many uses of Big Data
Location Tracking: GPS and Google Maps use Big Data for real-time traffic, congestion and route information, helping logistics companies track goods and reduce risks. Weather Patterns: sensors and satellites help forecast weather and warn of calamities like floods, earthquakes and tsunamis. Health Care: smart watches and health apps monitor heart rate, sleep and exercise, aiding diagnosis and tracking epidemics.
Banking, Finance and Trading: Big Data predicts and prevents cyber crimes and card fraud, and powers high-frequency trading. Sports: statistical and video analytics improve individual and team performance. Advertising: giants like Facebook and Google run targeted campaigns using user data. Entertainment and Media: Netflix and YouTube recommend content from viewing behaviour. Education: personalised, dynamic learning programmes replace the old 'one-size-fits-all' approach.
A genie in our hands
Big Data has innumerable further uses, in scientific research, understanding geographical phenomena and the smooth working of government. The essay calls it 'a genie in our hands': an immensely powerful tool whose benefit for mankind depends entirely on how wisely and responsibly we choose to use it.