Talking about Big Data
April 23, 2013
The Council on Foreign Relations blog Asia Unbound features the piece “Big Data: An interview with Kenneth Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schonberger” provides insight on how the two authors feel about big data, foreign policy and China. Cukier and Mayer-Schonberger are the authors of the book “Big Data: A revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think.” They both had some interesting comments about the future of Big Data. Cukier believes that the Council on Foreign Relations should use Big Data because it is a valuable tool that in previous years we were unable to harvest but now we can do so easily and cost efficiently. Not using it would be a critical error when understanding and practicing foreign policy. In countries such as the U.S. some officials are beginning to understand its importance and are paving the way. Mayer-Schonberger comments about China and how many start-ups are beginning to understand the importance of Big Data and view it as a great opportunity. Cukier made an interesting comment concerning the U.S. and its position in the Big Data world.
“Yes, the U.S. is at the forefront of big data. But that’s just because it tends to be at the forefront of most technology trends. And this says less about America’s inherent strengths and more about its vibrant educational, business and financial culture that encourages people to flit between disciplines and sectors and start businesses. So for the moment, the U.S. has a very healthy lead. But it is not inherently sustainable. Big data companies are cropping up everywhere. Yet the most interesting place plowing into big data is China.”
With the U.S., China as well as other areas continuing to come up with new ideas, Mayer-Schonberger believes that new niches will be born which will ultimately create new opportunities for other potential players. Though various users may have different ways of utilizing Big Data, it seems that it has definitely spread and can’t be linked to just one particular group. Big Data is knocking down barriers.
April Holmes, April 23, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Comments
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
