A database management system (DBMS) allows a person to organize, store, and retrieve data from a computer. It is a way of communicating with a computer’s “stored memory.” In the very early years of computers, “punch cards” were used for input, output, and data storage. Punch cards offered a fast way to enter data and […]
Is Streaming Analytics the Future of Business Analytics?
Analyzing data as it is created or changes? Is that possible? Now it is, with streaming analytics, which monitors and responds to continuously flowing data from connected devices and live data channels like the sensors, machine logs, relational databases, social media feeds, location data sources, and so on. The core differentiator of streaming analytics is […]
A Brief History of Data Science
The term “Data Science” was created in the early 1960s to describe a new profession that would support the understanding and interpretation of the large amounts of data which was being amassed at the time. (At the time, there was no way of predicting the truly massive amounts of data over the next fifty years.) […]
Data Management vs. Data Strategy
In a DATAVERSITY® interview, Donna Burbank, the Managing Director at Global Data Strategy, said, “The difference between Data Management vs. Data Strategy is almost in the definition of the two words. Think about your money. If you’re just managing it, you’re sort of just getting by, but if you’re thinking strategically, you’re really thinking of […]
Graph Database vs. Document Database: Different Levels of Abstraction
“Remember that every science is based upon an abstraction. An abstraction is taking a point of view or looking at things under a certain aspect or from a particular angle. All sciences are differentiated by their abstraction.” (Fulton Sheen) Graph and document databases (aka document stores), also demonstrate this principle. A few years, graph databases […]
So You Want to be a Big Data Analyst?
With the increasing use of big data by organizations in every field, the need for big data analysts will continue to grow. Big data analysts examine vast amounts of varied data. They uncover hidden patterns, customer preferences, and market trends. One of the primary differences between a big data analyst and a data scientist is […]
A Brief History of Analytics
Historically speaking, a simple definition of analytics is “the study of analysis.” A more useful, more modern description would suggest “data analytics” is an important tool for gaining business insights and providing tailored responses to customers. Data analytics, sometimes abbreviated to “analytics,” has become increasingly important for organizations of all sizes. The practice of data […]
Fundamentals of the Data Lakehouse
During the last few years, a new concept in Data Architecture has emerged. It is called the “data lakehouse.” The data lakehouse offers a new paradigm that takes the best characteristics of data warehouses (large amounts of coordinated data) and data lakes (massive amounts of uncoordinated data), and merges them, providing improved controls and tools. […]
So You Want to be a Data Curator?
Data curation is highly focused on maintaining and managing metadata, and not the database itself. Consequently, much of data curation involves such things as good communications and the usage popularity of services or articles. Data curators not only create, manage, and maintain data, but may also be involved in determining best practices for working with […]
Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
The debate on machine learning vs. deep learning has gained considerable steam in the past few years. The fundamental strength of both these technologies lies in their ability to learn from available data. Though both of these offshoot AI technologies triumph in “learning algorithms,” the manner in which machine learning (ML) algorithms learn is very […]