[open-government] About examples of "Big data" making use of open gov data

Fri Jan 27 16:23:27 UTC 2012

I like the definition of Big Data by Dana Boyd and Kate Crawford (2011) [1]:

> Big Data not only refers to very large data sets and the tools and
> procedures used to manipulate and analyze them, but also to a
> computational turn in thought and research (Burkholder 1992). Just as
> Ford changed the way we made cars — and then transformed work itself
> — Big Data has emerged a system of knowledge that is already changing
> the objects of knowledge, while also having the power to inform how
> we understand human networks and community . . .
>
> It reframes key questions about the constitution of knowledge, the
> processes of research, how we should engage with information, and the
> nature and the categorization of reality. Just as du Gay and Pryke
> note that ‘accounting tools...do not simply aid the measurement of
> economic activity, they shape the reality they measure’ (2002, pp.
> 12-13), so Big Data stakes out new terrains of objects, methods of
> knowing, and definitions of social life.

To them, Big Data is more than just volume.

(Not saying the other definition is wrong or anything, just that I found 
this perspective interesting and useful.)

[1] Boyd, Dana and Kate Crawford. Six Provocations for Big Data. 
Presented at Oxford Internet Institute’s “A Decade in Internet Time: 
Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society,” September 21, 
2011. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstractid=1926431

- Josh Tauberer

On 01/25/2012 03:23 AM, takashi.moriyasu.qy at hitachi.com wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Do you know anything about examples of so-called "Big data", in which
> open government data is utilized?
>
> Thank you for your information in advance.
>
> All the best, Takashi Moriyasu
>
>
> ***** Difinition of Big data *****
>
> Big data is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the
> ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and
> process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are
> a constantly moving target currently ranging from a few dozen
> terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set. In a 2001
> research report and related conference presentations, then META Group
> (now Gartner) analyst, Doug Laney, defined data growth challenges
> (and opportunities) as being three-dimensional, i.e. increasing
> volume (amount of data), velocity (speed of data in/out), and variety
> (range of data types, sources). Gartner continues to use this model
> for describing "big data."
>
> (Quoted from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data.)
>
>
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