What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets

Rob Kitchin; Gavin McArdle

doi:10.1177/2053951716631130

journal article Open Access Feb 17, 2016

What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets

Rob Kitchin

Gavin McArdle

Big Data & Society Vol. 3 No. 1 · SAGE Publications

View at Publisher Save 10.1177/2053951716631130

Abstract

Big Data has been variously defined in the literature. In the main, definitions suggest that Big Data possess a suite of key traits: volume, velocity and variety (the 3Vs), but also exhaustivity, resolution, indexicality, relationality, extensionality and scalability. However, these definitions lack ontological clarity, with the term acting as an amorphous, catch-all label for a wide selection of data. In this paper, we consider the question ‘what makes Big Data, Big Data?’, applying Kitchin’s taxonomy of seven Big Data traits to 26 datasets drawn from seven domains, each of which is considered in the literature to constitute Big Data. The results demonstrate that only a handful of datasets possess all seven traits, and some do not possess either volume and/or variety. Instead, there are multiple forms of Big Data. Our analysis reveals that the key definitional boundary markers are the traits of velocity and exhaustivity. We contend that Big Data as an analytical category needs to be unpacked, with the genus of Big Data further delineated and its various species identified. It is only through such ontological work that we will gain conceptual clarity about what constitutes Big Data, formulate how best to make sense of it, and identify how it might be best used to make sense of the world.

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Details

Published: Feb 17, 2016
Vol/Issue: 3(1)
License: View

Authors

R

Rob Kitchin

NIRSA, Maynooth University, County Kildare, Ireland

G

Gavin McArdle

UCD School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Cite This Article

Rob Kitchin, Gavin McArdle (2016). What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets. Big Data & Society, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716631130

What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets

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