The Historical Development of Big Data

 

The first instance of data collection on a bigger scale dates back to 1965 when the first ever data centre was constructed by the American government. It was used to keep a record of finger prints and tax returns. The relational database was created and developed in the 1970s, and since then people within the field of data have been pursuing more efficient and effective ways of collecting, storing and analysing vast amounts of (mostly digital) information.

In 1977, the development of big data sky-rocketed after the invention of the microcomputer. The microcomputer transformed technological data in a way that made it more personal; each computer or device belonging to an individual in their home provided a variety of personal information and later required huge amounts of data to be transmitted across the globe when the world wide web was created in 1989.

During the technology age and specifically the last 2 decades, a variety of new technologies and applications have been developed, mainly social media platforms. Social media has drastically increased the amount of data available to organisations and companies, and forced them to think of new, efficient ways of collecting and processing it.

References:

Keith D. Foote, A Brief History of Big Data - Dataversity.net (https://www.dataversity.net/brief-history-big-data/)