Section V
Big data
Earth, water, air, and fire were considered fundamental constituting elements in classical times. A fifth element was also envisaged, though it
gained less prominence – aether or quintessence. Aristotle described this
more ethereal or spiritual element as possessing different qualities. It lacked
the tactile qualities or physicality of other terrestrial elements.
In this final section, we observe a more contemporary, ethereal element
that also lacks the immediacy of touch and sensation, and that we see as
formative of contemporary life and lives – ‘big’ data. From the development
of the first computers in the 1950s, the conversion of vinyl to compact discs
in the 1980s, the proliferation of computers and mobile phones as essential
at home and work, to the rapid transfer of all kinds of activities and processes into the online environment, digital data, and the process of digitization rapidly shapes who and how we are.
Despite its everyday significance, ‘big’ data can appear incomprehensible
and perhaps a little magical to the untrained eye. It is based in an abstract
binary number system of ones (1) and zeros (0) and dependent on service
providers and devices to give it tangible form. Its capacity to slow down, run
out or disappear without obvious explanation or easy resolution, renders it
existentially mysterious and ofttimes, bewildering.
This diffuse invisibility co-exists in apparent contradiction to the conflation of data with information and knowledge. There is, at times, an implicit
assumption that data – even ‘big’ data – represents concrete facts that provide a basis for reasoned calculations and decision making. Digitalization
thus appears aligned with ideas of progression and progress stemming from
the enlightenment.
The process of transforming all manner of things and activities into digital form took shape in the 1950s, and American insurers were early adopters of computer technology, digitising millions of life insurance policies
onto UNIVAC machines (Yates 2005). These early computers used vacuum
tubes, mercury columns, quartz crystals, and memory switch gates to transform information about Americans’ lives, medical histories, and insurance
decisions into ones and zeroes. This Digital Revolution has been equated to
the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions in its implications for culture,
DOI: 10.4324/9781003157571-18
Big data
Earth, water, air, and fire were considered fundamental constituting elements in classical times. A fifth element was also envisaged, though it
gained less prominence – aether or quintessence. Aristotle described this
more ethereal or spiritual element as possessing different qualities. It lacked
the tactile qualities or physicality of other terrestrial elements.
In this final section, we observe a more contemporary, ethereal element
that also lacks the immediacy of touch and sensation, and that we see as
formative of contemporary life and lives – ‘big’ data. From the development
of the first computers in the 1950s, the conversion of vinyl to compact discs
in the 1980s, the proliferation of computers and mobile phones as essential
at home and work, to the rapid transfer of all kinds of activities and processes into the online environment, digital data, and the process of digitization rapidly shapes who and how we are.
Despite its everyday significance, ‘big’ data can appear incomprehensible
and perhaps a little magical to the untrained eye. It is based in an abstract
binary number system of ones (1) and zeros (0) and dependent on service
providers and devices to give it tangible form. Its capacity to slow down, run
out or disappear without obvious explanation or easy resolution, renders it
existentially mysterious and ofttimes, bewildering.
This diffuse invisibility co-exists in apparent contradiction to the conflation of data with information and knowledge. There is, at times, an implicit
assumption that data – even ‘big’ data – represents concrete facts that provide a basis for reasoned calculations and decision making. Digitalization
thus appears aligned with ideas of progression and progress stemming from
the enlightenment.
The process of transforming all manner of things and activities into digital form took shape in the 1950s, and American insurers were early adopters of computer technology, digitising millions of life insurance policies
onto UNIVAC machines (Yates 2005). These early computers used vacuum
tubes, mercury columns, quartz crystals, and memory switch gates to transform information about Americans’ lives, medical histories, and insurance
decisions into ones and zeroes. This Digital Revolution has been equated to
the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions in its implications for culture,
DOI: 10.4324/9781003157571-18