Undefined By Data: A Survey of Big Data Definitions

TL;DR

This paper surveys the diverse definitions of big data from academia, industry, and media, aiming to clarify the term's ambiguity and provide a unified understanding.

Contribution

It compiles and analyzes various prevalent big data definitions to establish a clearer, more consistent understanding of the term.

Findings

Multiple definitions exist with significant differences

No single, universally accepted definition of big data

A proposed concise definition to reduce ambiguity

Abstract

The term big data has become ubiquitous. Owing to a shared origin between academia, industry and the media there is no single unified definition, and various stakeholders provide diverse and often contradictory definitions. The lack of a consistent definition introduces ambiguity and hampers discourse relating to big data. This short paper attempts to collate the various definitions which have gained some degree of traction and to furnish a clear and concise definition of an otherwise ambiguous term.