10 Best Big Data Blog Posts of 2014

Big data continues to have an impact on business, government, and society at large. Here's a look back at 10 noteworthy blog posts from 2014 that consider the real and potential benefits that advancements in big data technologies can offer.

1. Big data's affect on society: As technology continues to improve, big data will continue to play a larger role in the lives of many Americans. This past year, President Obama commissioned a 3-month review on how big data will affect our economy, our government, our society, and to consider their implications for our personal privacy. Read it here.
2. Using big data to fight the Ebola epidemic: One of the biggest news stories of the past year has been the outbreak of Ebola. Steve Adler, IBM’s open data evangelist organized an event called African Open Data to use data to help in the fight against Ebola. This spawned the Ebola Open Data Repository, aimed at gathering and cataloging data that might be useful to relief organizations, government agencies and policy makers who are grappling with the Ebola epidemic. Read it here.
3. Protecting big data: With the explosion in big data, the value of information to companies has also skyrocketed. Many companies are just beginning to understand the monetary value that big data can provide. This past year, numerous companies also had their data breached by hackers. This blog discusses the top 10 data breaches from the past year based on the number of records exposed.  It is becoming more and more difficult for major companies to protect themselves from these breaches. Consumers are going to have to begin to have a defensive mindset when it comes to where they allow their personal information. Read it here.
4. Big data and business practices: Many businesses have heard the term “big data,” but how does it really impact an organization’s business practices?  This blog examines how big data is going to impact their business practices including some changes that are coming to the industry. Read it here.
5. Big trends in big data: Data analytics, like most technology, subscribes to the belief that if you are not looking to the future you are falling behind. This blog looks at some of the new trends in the industry, from the rise of “data plumbing” to new business applications for data in the future. Read it here.
6. Advancements in self-service BI: A topic continues to come up within the industry is self-service BI. The advantages for a company would be tremendous considering how much more efficient working with data would become. With self-service BI, many more employees would be able to work with the data and not just data scientists. While a handful of products have begun to claim self-service BI, does it really exist for the non-technical business users? Read it here
7. Challenges for IoT: Many in the world of big data are excited for the Internet of Things (IoT) for the potential benefits it can bring to businesses. While the opportunities seem endless, there are some potential challenges for the IoT. This blog goes over three potential challenges that could slow the IoT. Read it here
8. Keeping a perspective about what big data can offer: Data can be a powerful tool for an organization to help improve their business practices. As technology has grown, so has the importance of big data. This is due to the fact that big data has become more available with the emerging technology. With all of the advancements in big data analysis, sometimes there can be a bit of hyperbole about its advancements. Sometimes people get a little too excited about the future and lose perspective. Read it here.
9. Big data in sports: Big data is known for its 3Vs – one of which is for “velocity.” For any company, it is not only necessary to track data, but to put it to use quicker than the competition. One industry where it is advantageous to process data in real time is sports. If organizations are to be able to use data during sports events, they need to have it in real time. The IBM TryTracker aims to help sports organizations educate and connect with their fans. Read it here.
10. Big data as a political force: Why doesn’t data science play a bigger role in the political world when it comes to numbers? It is very easy for anyone in politics to blurt out “facts” about budget projections and so on, but what if they had the data science to back it up? Read it here.