There is an awesomeness factor in the way data about our digital
comings and goings is being captured nowadays. That awesomeness
is such that it cannot even be described in numbers. In other
words, the concept of big data is not about size but about
reach. In the same way that the ‘wow’ of today’s computer memory
will turn into a ‘so what’ tomorrow, references to terabytes of
data are meaningless to define the power and significance of big
data. The best way to understand big data is to see it as a
collection of all possible digital data. Absolutely all of it.
Some of it will be trivial and most of it will be insignificant
in isolation, but when put together its significance becomes
clearer – at least to those who have the vision and astuteness
to make the most of it. Take transactional data as a starting
point. One purchase by one person is meaningful up to a point –
so if I buy a cookery book, the retailer may be able to infer
that I either know someone who is interested in cooking or I am
interested in coo