Data or data in English is now as valuable as oil today. We know that there are companies and governments that spend billions of dollars on data theft and protection. In addition, we all know that there are companies that blindly sell or fail to protect our personal data. The answer to the question of what is data is a bit detailed because what we call data is actually not very useful if it is not in the right hands.
Data and information are two concepts that are often confused with each other. Obtaining data is only the first step in knowing about that subject. Information may emerge as the data in question is processed and analysed. We say it can happen because we may not always have enough data to reach the information. Let’s take a closer look at the question of what is data and see if it matters enough to cause tomorrow’s wars.
What is data?
Data or with its English name data, with its technical definition; It is the numerical value of qualitative and quantitative variability about a person or object. It is possible to separate the data as raw, that is, unprocessed and processed data. Raw data doesn’t make much sense to other people unless it’s been reviewed by an expert.
Processed data is often an important step towards reaching the result, that is, information. However, most of the time, even processed data does not give results if it is not analyzed by combining it with different information or different data. For this reason, the more data about a person or an object is obtained, the healthier the process becomes.
Data can be used in any field you can’t think of. Data are the number one references in scientific research, finance studies, business management, management sciences, organizational activities and more. It is desired to reach the information by making analyzes in the light of the data, and after reaching the information, application studies on the subject are started.
What does data mean?
Let’s go through an example to explain data usage and understand what it means. We all know Mount Everest. Its height is a data of it. It is his knowledge that Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Talking about the difficulties of climbing Mount Everest is the result of processing information. In other words, data is the most basic and ready-to-process value of something.
The history of the word data, which means data in English, dates back to about 1640. In 1946, it gained the definition of transferable and storable computer information as we use it today. Data processing, on the other hand, was used in 1954, shortly after the definition of data.
When did we realize that data is valuable?
Presumably, humanity has been collecting data since its existence. He is looking at the tree and trying to collect data about it. He’s collecting data on a weed he finds as he tries to figure out if it’s lethal. In other words, in order to reach information, people have always tried to collect data about the thing they are curious about first.
In today’s sense, digital data has gained an increasing value with 2010. As a result of the widespread use of the internet along with computers and mobile devices, many new data have emerged and more data has been needed. Marketing, social work and scientific research are among the fields that have realized how important user data is, especially in the last decade.
So how is data collected?
Basically, without going into too much detail, there are two main sources to use to collect data; primary source and secondary source. The primary source is the main thing about which data is wanted to be collected. Secondary source is the second thing that has the data of the thing about which data is wanted to be collected.
Primary sources often provide data of the most accurate value, but secondary sources often provide data of questionable value. Therefore, when processing data from secondary sources, comparisons are often made with raw data from the primary source and primary source data is used as a reference.
Where are the big companies in this?
Up to this point we may have given some tedious details for a clear understanding of what data is, but from this point on we will understand exactly why data is so valuable as oil. At this point, we come across the concept of big data. Big data means a lot of data to reach the result, that is, information. Of course, we all know which big companies have it.
Do not be angry, for this has been the greatest success of large companies; We handed over all the data that they could not find easily if they searched. They too rightly took all the data and processed it nicely. In fact, it is not so important that the companies in question process this data. Most often, we come across advertisements for products similar to the product we are looking for. What about security?
Things get messy when all these big companies fail to protect our huge amounts of data or knowingly sell it. We know that in the illegal area of the internet, which we call the deep web, the data in question is sold to terrible numbers. While credit card and bank account information cause money to be stolen directly from our pocket, our identity information is used for illegal purposes. So I wanted to go back to the company you trust and have a look.
How will data wars unfold?
World War 3 will definitely break out, but it will not be as we know it. States that have fought for years for absurd causes will fight for data today. He will try to identify the opposition figures, he will want to find the places of the people who are found guilty just because he thinks, the dictators will hide the way they persecute the people.
For numerous reasons, these states will invest in cyber attack and cyber defense. So much so that a state will infiltrate the military data of another state and bombard its own lands. Because we now know that data consisting of 1s and 0s is not only complex number sets, but also the real life we live.
Today, we answered the questions that are more valuable than oil, how is it collected, is it important enough to cause war, and we talked about the details you need to know about this digital world. You can share your thoughts about the future of data in the comments.
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