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Data Mining And The Concept Of Big Data

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Data-mining and the concept of 'Big Data ' are ideas that have grown in popularity over the last three decades as technology has grown and expanded so rapidly. Iqbal Pittawala explains that “Big Data refers to a technology phenomenon that has arisen since the mid-1980s. As computers [improve], growing storage and processing capacities [provide] new and powerful ways to gain insight into the world by sifting through the infinite quantities of data available” (Pittalwala, 1). With the increase of the popularity of Big Data, we 've been able to discover trends in our society we had not noticed before. However, there is a danger in Big Data. While information is being collected on us, do we really know what is being done with it? Big Data can be used to discover valuable trends, but it can also become a violation of one 's personal privacy. The phrase Big Data itself is somewhat of an umbrella term, referring to anything from search engine inputs to Facebook posts and Twitter updates, to what the weather was like in Mumbai, India six years ago. By itself, this information may seem pointless, and some of may be inaccurate. However, when coupled with a larger array of information, the data may form a picture of a larger trend. Though some of the data is imperfect, other collected data can be used to check the accuracy of each piece of data. Therefore, it 's a more efficient way of gathering and using data. For example, Kenneth Cukier introduces Shigeomi Koshimizu, a professor at

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