Think Bigger

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The History of Big Data

Of all the data in recorded human history, 90 percent has been created in the last two years. However, the need to use and interpret such Big Data has been around for much longer. In fact, the earliest examples of using data to track and control businesses date back 7,000 years, when Mesopotamians used rudimentary accounting to record the growth of crops and herds. Accounting principles continued to improve, and in 1663, John Graunt recorded and examined all information about mortality rolls in London. He wanted to gain an understanding of and build a warning system for the ongoing bubonic plague.¹ In the first recorded example of statistical data analysis, he gathered his findings in the book Natural and Political ...