Unstructured Data Analytics

CHAPTER 2Unstructured Data Analytics: The Next Frontier of Analytics Innovation

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

—John F. Kennedy

INTRODUCTION

Today we are living in a world of digital power propelled by an unprecedented increase of interactive devices such as smartphones, tablets, wearables, sensor networks, and global positioning system (GPS) sensors that create new data from everything we see, hear, touch, and feel. This new data, of various formats and content, is in turn shared in real time or near-real time with other users, sometimes even by avatars and humanoids! The Internet of Things (IoT), or the Internet of Everything, describes exchanges of data between objects (e.g., devices, vehicles, buildings) via embedded electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and Internet connectivity. The IoT creates opportunities for smart environments (homes, transportation, cities, factories, retail, worksites, and offices) that interface with humans. Businesses, organizations, and governments can now capture, store, process, and analyze this new goldmine of people and machine data, which flows in huge volume at exponential speed to derive actionable insights. In this digital world, structured and unstructured data commingle and complement each other. Examples of structured data include customer ID, financial information, and demographic characteristics like gender. Unstructured data might be voice records ...