From the course: Introduction to Career Skills in Data Analytics

Unstructured data

From the course: Introduction to Career Skills in Data Analytics

Unstructured data

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- Did you know that there is way more unstructured data in the world than structured? As a matter of fact, did you know we use structured data to produce even more unstructured data? Data that neatly fits into tables or spreadsheets is structured data, and unstructured data is literally everything else. When we post videos, take pictures, create PDFs of bills for our clients, we are contributing to the vast amount of constant unstructured data. The minute we had the ability to walk around with a PC, video camera, still camera and social media outlets in our hands like our mobile devices, the world of data exploded. Let's just take an image for example. This is unstructured data. You must look at the image to understand what the image is representing. Same thing for a video. You have to watch it, and it's an immense amount of data. With that said, there's also semi-structured data, which is a mix of both structured data, and unstructured data. Let's say you receive an image of the cutest cat ever on the beach via a text from your best friend. When you see this image, you see the cutest cat ever or at least someone's opinion that is the cutest cat ever, and you see the beach. A data professional sees much, much more. What I see when I look at the cutest cat ever picture is much more than a cat in the beach. I see the time of day, the weather, the location, the type of cat, the color of the cat, even the age of the cat. I also see the image type like PNG, and what's the image size, as well as the dimensions, and what's the quality of the image. Don't forget. We mentioned that we received this from someone, that's data. We received it at a certain time, and that's data. Did I mention when the picture was taken, and by who? I mean this list can keep going. Just think. It went from being the cutest cat ever to a lot of data really fast. Now, imagine people posting their favorite images on their social feeds. Multiple times per minute, and then others are sharing that image or they like it, or they look at it and move on. That's also data. Unstructured data requires our brain to review and provide context, and structured data fits neatly into designs. And semi-structured is everything in-between structured and unstructured. Depending on the organization you work with, and what they do as their product or service will determine what tools, and software you need to work with with their data. Just knowing that there are different types of data like structured and unstructured can help you explore the roles in data. Data is not going anywhere. It is only growing. And just think, there was a time when the name didn't exist. It should keep us all motivated for what's coming next.

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