Part 4: A World Built Of Data

• Can I afford those new shoes? Which school should we send our child to? Is the design of this airliner safe? Is climate change driven by human activity? We can answer these questions by processing data.
• Storing and processing data inside computers has changed us as individuals and as a society.
• Whether or not you realise it, or indeed want it, governments, companies and other computer users use data associated with you to determine everything from your income, your health, your likelihood to commit crimes or whether or not they want to be your friend.
• Some of this data you create consciously; such as when you post on social media. Other data is created whenever you open a bank account, enrol on a module, shop using a store loyalty card, and so on. And yet more data is created without your knowledge by companies and governments who monitor your interactions with computers – when you make a phone call and to whom; your web browsing and email histories; your financial transactions and your journeys around the world.
• Bank notes and coins do not hold any personal information so do not include them in your list.
• Items in wallet/purse


  • office pass
  • bank card
  • two credit cards
  • six store loyalty cards
  • museum membership card
  • two airline loyalty cards
  • newspaper membership card
  • political membership card
  • pre-paid coffee shop card
• Various organisations (including my bank, favourite shops and airlines, museum and coffee shop) all hold some data about me. They probably hold my name, age, date of birth and address, plus some data unique to each particular organisation.
• Clearly, different organisations each have very different views of me.
• This part explores the relationship between data, computers and humans. It will give you a broad overview of how computers manage data and how that data can be made useful.
• Databases made it possible to query huge collections of data to find individual pieces of data or uncover subtle patterns within the data at very high speed.
• Databases have revolutionised almost every part of our life, from travel and shopping to identifying criminals, providing better healthcare and supporting scientific investigations.
• Databases underpin most businesses as well as a large part of the internet.
• This part ends by introducing the next data revolution: so-called big data. Modern technology now allows us to collect and process an almost unimaginable amount of data, ranging from the latest scientific investigations into space, physics and genetics through to everyday tasks such as identifying traffic flows in cities and helping us find useful websites.
• This volume of data requires new approaches, so we will explore exactly how computer scientists are using big data to help scientists, engineers, healthcare specialists, businesses – and the rest of us – solve a new generation of problems.