The origin of the term “Big Data”
Earlier this year, my colleague Kurt and I have written an article (in german language) that included a chapter on the origin of big amounts of data. In this article, we adopted the view that the term big data ultimately stemmed from the 3Vs (variety, velocity & volume) as attributes of the growing flood of data: the amount, the number of sources and the speed at which new data arrives is very large, i.e., “big”.
Recently, I’ve read the Wikipedia article on big data, and there one thing hit me: In the “See also” section, the term “big data” is brought into relationship with terms like “Big Oil”, “Big Tobacco”, “Big Media” etc.
A very interesting connotation that is: at least as much as from the description of a natural phenomenon, the term big data might stem from a whole industrie’s hope of having found the new oil, of getting new business opportunities and of launching the “next big thing” after the internet and mobile revolution.This explains why the term is constantly being pushed by industry since several years as can be seen by the number of (industry-organized) events/conferences etc.
And on the other hand, this connotation also expresses the fear of individuals being delivered into the hands a “big brother”, just like it is expressed as a present reailty in the other “Big*” terms from above.
So – what is big data? A description of the growing state of data, a hope for business opportunities, and a subtle hint to the attached dangers of this business. All 3 dimensions are worthy to be explored and have to be researched.