Data Backup Digest

As big data storage, processing and analysis becomes more and more routine in the 21st century, especially when it comes to enterprises and businesses of all sizes, developers from every corner of the IT industry are racing to come up with the next biggest innovation in big data analytics. To this extent, the team with the M.I.T. Media Lab thinks they might have just found it.

Known as Data USA, M.I.T.'s solution comes in the form a user-friendly database and accompanying website. While it may seem as though it's just another site of random and meaningless statistics, there is actually quite a bit going on under the hood. Furthermore, some of the data within these new databases my contain personal information about you or your family.

Collecting the Data

Originally launched in April 2016, Data USA represents a years-long project meant to collate and centralize government-specific data. In fact, the project has officially converted several acres worth of paperwork, regarding everything from community demographics, personal health information, traffic trends and even data regarding family incomes, into a digital database that is viewable via the Internet.

Perhaps even more amazing than the amount of digital records they've complied is the fact that Data USA is completely free to the public. On top of that, the software is also open source. With such accessibility to the internal coding of the program, it's anybody's guess as to what we might see in the future from Data USA.

Organizing the Data

Collecting and digitizing the data was one ordeal in and of itself, but the team with M.I.T. Media Lab faced another challenge when it came time to format and organize the data into a readable format. To accomplish this, M.I.T. Media Lab teamed up with a professional consulting firm known as Deloitte, which helped them establish a framework for disseminating the data.

Patricia Buckley, Deloitte's director of economic policy and analysis, spoke about the process in a recent interview. She was quoted as saying: "The goal was organize and visualize data in a way that a lot of people think about it."

Displaying the Data

Taking their software one step further, the team with M.I.T. Media Lab included an algorithm for assuming and learning what kind of data a specific user wants as well as their ultimate purpose for that data. Although the algorithm certainly isn't perfect, it's undoubtedly a step forward when it comes to accessing data quickly, efficiently and accurately.

Accessing the Site

To find out more information about Data USA, or to view some of the detailed information they've compiled in their online databases, please visit their official website at www.datausa.io. Their user-friendly website can be accessed by typing a query in the search box, which is located right on the front page of their site. Users are able to search for data according to state, city, county, industry, zip code or any number of other qualifiers. The website is currently live and available for anyone to use as they see fit.