Big Data – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

The general idea of Big Data is hardly new, although it has existed under many names. Of course, it is a moving target, since what once was Big Data can now be done on a smartphone. In 2013, New York Times reporter Steve Lohr published "The Origins of 'Big Data': An Etymological Detective Story," attributing that phrase to John Mashey, who started using it in the early 1990s and made it a marketing theme at Silicon Graphics. In this talk John will explore the past of Big Data, describe its present state, and speculate on the future.

The first and largest part of the talk reviews the long history of Big Data, starting with Hollerith machines and punch cards, the Big Data of the 1890s. Insights for the future can be gained by studying the evolution since then of hardware, software and applications, as well as never-ending, but always-changing "stack wars."

The second part examines key elements of current Big Data applications and relates them to their historical precursors.

Finally, the third part discusses challenges of the near-term future, then ends 5,000 years from now, quoting an apt science-fiction book.

Speaker: John Mashey