What is Big Data and What is it Used For?

Summary

This video explains the concept of big data, highlighting its components—structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data—used for predictive modeling and analytics. It covers the three Vs of big data: volume, variety, and velocity, and introduces additional Vs such as veracity, value, and variability. The video also discusses how big data helps businesses enhance operations, improve customer service, and increase profitability, while benefiting fields like healthcare, energy, and government. Challenges include costs, security, and skill requirements. Public cloud services are gaining popularity for hosting big data systems due to their scalability.

Takeaways

• 😀 Big data is a combination of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from various sources like business transactions, social networks, and medical records.
• 😀 There is no universal numerical standard for big data, but it is often defined by the three Vs: volume, variety, and velocity.
• 😀 Volume refers to the massive amounts of data, often measured in terabytes, petabytes, or exabytes.
• 😀 Variety refers to the diverse types of data, which can include text, images, videos, and more.
• 😀 Velocity relates to the speed at which data is generated, processed, and collected.
• 😀 Additional Vs include veracity (trustworthiness of data), business value, and variability (how data is used and formatted).
• 😀 Big data is used for various purposes, such as predictive modeling, enhancing customer service, personalized marketing, and improving profitability.
• 😀 In the medical field, big data helps identify disease risk factors, diagnose illnesses, and improve patient outcomes.
• 😀 Energy companies use big data to better locate drilling and oil sites.
• 😀 Governments use big data to improve emergency response and crime prevention.
• 😀 Challenges related to big data include storage capacity, data security, availability, quality assurance, and the specialized skills required to manage it.
• 😀 Public cloud services are a popular solution for hosting big data systems due to their scalability and flexibility.

Q & A

What is big data?

Big data refers to the combination of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data collected for various uses such as predictive modeling, analytics, and business projects.

What are the sources of big data?

Big data can come from multiple sources including business transaction systems, customer databases, clickstream logs, social networks, and medical records.

What are the three Vs that characterize big data?

The three Vs that characterize big data are volume (referring to the size of data, often in terabytes, petabytes, or exabytes), variety (the different types of data), and velocity (the speed at which data is generated, processed, and collected).

What additional Vs are considered in the context of big data?

In addition to the traditional three Vs, other Vs include veracity (the trustworthiness of data), value (its business relevance), and variability (the various ways businesses can use and format data).

How do businesses use big data?

Businesses use big data for various purposes, such as improving operations, enhancing customer service, creating personalized marketing campaigns, and increasing profitability.

How does big data help in the medical field?

Big data helps medical researchers identify disease risk factors, diagnose illnesses, and improve healthcare outcomes.

What role does big data play in the energy sector?

In the energy sector, big data helps companies identify potential drilling sites and oil locations, leading to more efficient resource extraction.

How does big data assist governments?

Governments use big data for emergency response, crime prevention, and other public services that require data-driven decision-making.

What are some challenges associated with big data?

Challenges with big data include issues related to storage capacity, data security, availability, quality assurance, compliance, and the necessary skills to deploy and manage big data systems.

Why are public cloud services popular for hosting big data systems?

Public cloud services are popular because they allow businesses to easily scale their big data systems up or down according to their needs, offering flexibility and cost efficiency.