TechAmerica Big Data Report Highlights Confusion, Need for R&D Strategy
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A report from the TechAmerica Foundation’s Federal Big Data Commission says big data can be defined through identifying four major characteristics, ZDNet reports.
Leaders and commissioners came from companies including IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, NetApp, Grant Thornton and Computer Sciences Corp., according to Andrew Brust’s story.
The report said that big data is composed of volume, velocity, variety and veracity or data quality.
Researchers studied how big data is being used in 10 U.S. federal agencies and also included case studies of administrative and scientific domains from academia, private sector, and counties like Sweden, Denmark, and Canada.
A NASA-hosted big data competition is about to get underway, challenging contestants to come up with ideas for innovations.
The report highlighted confusion over what big data means, saying it is partly because the conversation is driven largely by the information technology community and centering primarily on technology, as opposed to the line of business community.
In the conclusion, the report recommends the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy develop a national research and development strategy for big data and all federal agencies to have a chief data officer.