Data has tremendously changed over time\u2014particularly the amount, collection, types, and analysis of it. Data has also progressed to what it is today by impacting everyone and every industry. The future of data and that of market research are also interrelated. As a result, it\u2019s important to understand its history, especially as the next shift in data is happening now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first forms of early data were in the form of tally or tick marks. These were collected in order to keep track or record inventories such as food for ancient civilizations. Later the abacus was invented to help with the calculations of such records. Then, other data related to astrological studies and time-keeping resulted in scientific discoveries. Ultimately, as more forms of data were discovered, the need for tools to collect, analyze, and store it also quickly resulted<\/strong>\u2014even in the earliest of times of data history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As society advanced, more evolved needs for data resulted. For example, during the 1800\u2019s the census started to take place\u2014one of the largest sources of data yet. Because the census was gathering more and more data points, a need for a more efficient process for data collection and analysis was required. In fact, without it, compiling and analyzing the census data wouldn\u2019t be possible to complete until close to the time the next census arose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Herman Hollerith, an inventor of the times, recognized this need and developed what became known as the Hollerith Tabulating Machine\u2014which tabulated data from the census and took analysis from years to months. This machine also allowed researchers to more easily extrapolate insights from the census to spend more time understanding the impact of the data. And while statistics has its place before the 1800\u2019s, it was then applied more broadly as a result of this machine. Herman would later become known for founding IBM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward a bit into the mid-1900\u2019s and the invention of the computer, the crisis became data storage. Luckily, around this time, semiconductor memory chips were developed to replace traditional vacuum tubes (or RAM storage) used on the Hollerith Tabulating Machine and similar tools. But with the commercialization of computers, even more storage was needed to keep pace with the influx of data sources. For example, banks and other enterprise institutions started to see more and more value in the impact data tracking and analysis could have on their bottom line. Howard Dresner, a well- known leader and analyst at Gartner, put a now commonly known name to this phenomenon: business intelligence. So by the 1980\u2019s magnetic disk storages\u2014or floppy disks\u2014were developed and became mainstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the revolution of data had yet to reach its peak. We bet you can guess what changed the world of data as we know it by the 1990\u2019s\u2014the internet. More data, more data types, and new ways for collecting, using, and analyzing it were all a result of the internet. But as we are all likely very familiar with that story, we can skip ahead to what really matters\u2014the future of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We argue that the future of data is already here, largely due to big data. Big data was actually first coined in the 1990\u2019s, but today, it\u2019s really just data\u2014and lots of it. Big data has also resulted in the data science industry. An industry formed to develop better tools and means for integrating different types of data. Now, the future of data is here\u2014in the form of cognitive technologies.<\/strong> These technologies have already become products that leverage AI to perform more complex tasks through machine learning and natural language processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s tough to predict the future of data and technology; the possibilities are truly limitless. In the past, some have been very successful at predicting it, like Nikola Tesla, who, in 1926 stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Shocking that 70 years ago Nikola could have predicted such an accurate depiction of the future. In the end, it\u2019s always about data collection and analysis\u2014we need faster and cheaper ways of analyzing it and storing it. While technology is evolving to provide more means of storage and greater amounts of it, the number of tools available for interpreting data can be overwhelming. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Data has tremendously changed over time\u2014particularly the amount, collection, types, and analysis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_toluna_hide_sidebar":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolunacorporate.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Data evolving<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The future of data is already here<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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