Let's stop saying "Big Data"

For the love of clarity and analytics - let’s stop using the term “Big Data”.

It's pointless, confusing and downright annoying.  

The term “Big Data” was coined (or maybe just appropriated - who knows) by analytics vendors in the previous decade to  - yet again - sell ambiguous "data this, data that", not deliver anything of value and be able to cash the check without explaining the mess they left behind.  

The 3 Vs (Volume, Venison, etc, I can never remember them), 7 Vs, I heard someone got to 12Vs. Please stop.

“BIG DATA” IS NOT A THING. It’s a meaningless word-salad. 

"It's not just 'data'. It's also AI."

How big does it need to be to deserve the “Big” title? 

One person said on Linkedin that “Big Data” doesn't fit into Excel. Seriously, some people think that.

Another dude recently told me that it’s “Big Data” when it doesn’t fit into RAM. 

Others say it’s SOOOO BIG that it won’t fit into a traditional database. 

It’s complete nonsense (do you even know how databases work?)

Please, stop saying “Big Data”.

Wait what? Some other enlightened folk say that it’s not just “data”…

It’s not just data. It’s also AI. 

AI and ML.

Wow.

Oh and “Actionable Insight”.

So now it makes sense. 

Please stop.

Wait what, it's even more to it? Wiki lists the tech behind “Big Data”, finally something solid:

Soo… A/B testing is “Big Data”?

Business Intelligence is “Big Data”? 

Charts and graphs are “Big Data”?? Do I need a special big screen for them too?

Big Data Monitor 👆🏻😂

Stop peddling this nonsense.

Even the same Wiki page makes a note that: 

(Hats off to Wiki’s integrity and sense of humor - giving a million different examples and applications and then discarding all this effort so easily). 

It's a fucking buzzword. Stop using it.

"What do you mean?"

Some time ago I happened to speak to an astronomer working with data collected by Hubble. 

It’s an intimidatingly large data. 

It’s bigger than anything I have ever worked with. 

For me - if anything was “Big Data” - that was it. 

So I asked her “.. how do you deal with all this Big Data that you collect and store?”

She looked at me and said “what do you mean by Big Data”. 

I felt like an idiot. 

Please stop saying “Big Data”. It’s bullshit.

Mack