Big Data Now: Current Perspectives from O'Reilly Radar

by O'Reilly Radar Team

This collection represents the full spectrum of data-related content we’ve published on O’Reilly Radar over the last year. Mike Loukides kicked things off in June 2010 with “What is data science?” and from there we’ve pursued the various threads and themes that naturally emerged. Now, roughly a year later, we can look back over all we’ve covered and identify a number of core data Data issues -- The opportunities and ambiguities of the data space are evident in discussions around privacy, the implications of data-centric industries, and the debate about the phrase “data science” itself. The application of products and processes – A “data product” can emerge from virtually any domain, including everything from data startups to established enterprises to media/journalism to education and research. Data science and data tools -- The tools and technologies that drive data science are of course essential to this space, but the varied techniques being applied are also key to understanding the big data arena.The business of data – Take a closer look at the actions connected to data -- the finding, organizing, and analyzing that provide organizations of all sizes with the information they need to compete.

Genres: Business, Technology, Technical, Nonfiction, Reference, Programming, Computer Science

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ed Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthology of Insights

Big Data is not only a buzz term, it is also legitimately changing everything we buy, see and how we are influenced. The anthology gives an overview of both technology and policy around big data. A good overview and interesting read.

[Richard Magahiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series of short form essays and interviews circa 2010, still relevant. Most of the links still work at the current time, which is worth something. It is a mix of big picture and details of implementations which may no longer be current, discussed at a level where one does not need to be an insider to understand the gist of the subjects. It served as a useful guide to the architecture behind the largest fixtures in the Big Data space though of course it leaves out the ones who have only made a name for themselves in the last couple of years. I believe I may pick up the 2012 update as well (both ebooks are free at Amazon) to catch up on some of these.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, although a bit dated, is a really good primer into the terminology, challenges and excitement of "big data". It's available as a free PDF download. There are a lot of adverts in amongst the text, and they're all for a conference that has already been and gone. Whilst annoying, it was a free download, so I don't feel I can really complain. I now subscribe to a filtered O'Reilly Radar feed looking for big data related articles to continue my learning

[Upom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting series of interviews and essays about what big data holds in store for people. It was bit fragmented, and some essays were really jargony, but perhaps the state of big data itself: no one is quite sure whats going on. In some sense though, it's a perfect way to understand what is going on in this rapidly evolving concept.

[Aleksander Shtuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains tons of interesting information, interviews, opinions,questions about big data and companies and people already involved in development. For some people this is a dated information, but for me it was very informative.

[CT Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of essays on Big Data. Some of the technical ones were interesting and I learned new things. Some of the case studies and interviews with people in the Big Data product area were less interesting.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the first 1/3 if you don't already know the jargon.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of topics and interviews. My favorite was a reminder how useful some UNIX commandline tools still are. I learned a couple of new ones, to go along with my old favorites.

[Mms Mamdouh Al Shamy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a collection of articles which talk about diverse topics about Big Data from definitions, concepts, elements, difficulties, current startup examples and thoughts about the future of Big Data

[Yougerten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty straight forward and simple to read if you want to have a general idea and intriduction about Big Data

[khalid eldehairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great intro into the big-data world from a technical point of view.