Our first learning session at the Data school started with a seemingly simple question however became more difficult to answer as we explored the topic.
What Is Data?
Data can be very hard to define as its more than numbers and letters and not quite information. One formal definition that was provided was:
"Data is the facts or numbers collected from observations for the purpose of understanding a particular subject better”
However, it was made clear that this definition could change depending on who you are and what your interpretation of it is, therefore implying data is quite an abstract topic.
We then went on to discuss the sources of data. This could range from the weather to transportation. Forecasting data is used not only to predict the weather, but also to mitigate any negative economic effects caused by poor weather. Weather data is then desired not only for the everyday consumer to plan their days but also businesses, transportation drivers etc.
Interesting example are music streaming services such as Spotify. These streaming services collect a lot of data such as songs a consumer likes, artists that are increasing in popularity and where people are most commonly listening from. Many people would desire this data. A popular feature of Spotify is yearly wrapped where consumers can see a summary of what they have listened to from the year. This data is also important for artists and record labels to see where their fans mainly listen from leading to more profitable concert sales.