Big Data Embraced by Feds

A report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has spurred the federal government to invest $200 Million in new research and development of “big data.”

The money is to be spend specifically on the mining, processing and storage of big data.

Two weeks ago, a study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that about half of technology experts think the gathering and analysis of troves of big data will produce a “huge positive” for society, while about 40 percent think it will produce a “big negative.” Pew researchers, based on their survey, say that technology leaders contend that advances in big data will produce a more predictable economy, more nuanced health-care diagnoses and smarter business decisions.

The President’s Council report found a gap in the private sector’s investment in basic big data research and development. But some skeptics told Pew they were concerned most big data is in the hands of governments and corporations along with the tools to analyze it. That could result in people’s daily lives being commoditized rather than improved, they said. Other skeptics worried conclusions drawn from big data would too often be erroneous and based on poor assumptions about causation.

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