Big Data, Thin Data, Thick Data, the Real World

A piece of fabric with stars and stripes in three colors is thin data. An American Flag blowing proudly in the wind is thick data. 

Your Big Data Is Worthless if You Don’t Bring It Into the Real World | Opinion | WIRED: "To really understand people, we must also understand the aspects of our experience — what anthropologists refer to as thick data. Thick data captures not just facts but the context of facts. Eighty-six percent of households in America drink more than six quarts of milk per week, for example, but why do they drink milk? And what is it like?...Rather than seeking to understand us simply based on what we do as in the case of big data, thick data seeks to understand us in terms of how we relate to the many different worlds we inhabit. Only by understanding our worlds can anyone really understand “the world” as a whole, which is precisely what companies like Google and Facebook say they want to do."




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