1. Introducing Big Data

What do we mean by the term “Big Data”? Far from being self-explanatory, it often seems that big data can mean different things to different people or companies, dependent upon their perspectives. In this chapter we examine what big data is and how it can be defined, before investigating the convergence of technological advances that are driving big data. Given the increasing media coverage surrounding big data and analytics, we then explore some of the stories behind the hype. It may be argued big data reached the peak of the “hype cycle” towards the end of 2013, carried by overly inflated expectations – followed by a growing sense of disillusionment in 2014 as some early trials ended in highly publicised failure and media interest waned. However, in this chapter we suggest that despite the hype cycle, big data will, ultimately, result in major changes to both social and business life – though this change may takes decades to complete. Finally we introduce a framework which allows all aspects of big data to be represented and explored holistically: the 9S-framework.