Data: A timelineHow data came to rule the world

Also read: Spotlight: How data influences the publishing industry

1881

The Hollerith Tabulating Machine

Punch cards helped US census workers to deal with the increasing amount of information.

1932

A population boom

The introduction of social security numbers andother methods of managing the records after a huge population boom.

1941

The information explosion

The first time that the term ‘information explosion’is used in the media in reference to the ever-increasingamount of information.

1944

The first storage warning

Estimates are made that university libraries aredoubling in size every 16 years. Questions are askedabout how places can store such vast records.

1948

Shannon’s information theory

Shannon determined the minimum data requirementsto transmit over noisy channels. Set the foundationsfor today’s infrastructure.

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1956

Virtual memory

By German physicist Fritz-Rudolf Güntsch. The idea finite storage was infinite.

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1963

Time for a solution

Storage of records by their traditional meanswas no longer effective, due to the mass increaseof new information and an unmanageabletrajectory.

1966

Centralised computing systems

Organisations start to build and maintaintheir own centralised computing systems to manage and automate their inventory.

Note: They were much bigger than this!

1970

The relational database

A huge moment. Edgar F. Codd shows how informationin large databases could be accessed easily. This is a seminal discovery that changed the shape of computing.

1980

Parkinson’s law of data

I.A. Tjomsland says:

“Data expands to fill the space available.”

Late 1980s

Enterprise resource planning improves

ERP software starts to mature, integrating withdifferent departments and organisational elements.

1989

Business intelligence

Howard Dresner defines BI as "concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems".

Mid 1990s

The world wide web skyrockets

A tumultuous and exciting period in history, as theinternet explodes in popularity and the resultingdata starts to inform the world we live in now.

1997The problem of big dataMichael Cox and David Ellsworth highlight the problems of so much data for modern computer systems.

Future data storageMichael Lesk - “the typical piece of information will never be looked at by a human being.”

1998

NoSQLCarlo Strozzi creates the open-source relational database called NoSQL.

GoogleGoogle is founded.

2001

SaaSThe phrase “Software as a Service” is first mentioned in the media.

The 3 VsDoug Laney first mentions volume, velocity, and variety with regards to big data.

2005

Usability considerations

An increased focus on the usability of softwarefor end users - in enterprise and consumer markets.

2007

The expanding digital universe

Predictions that information will double every 18 months for 4 years. These proved to be conservative estimates.

2008

Big data

The term starts to gain traction in tech and business arenas.

2009

Business intelligence takes overGartner research shows that BI is now priority for CIOs.

How much information?A report highlights amazing levels of data consumption.

2011

The real growth of data

Science Magazine shows that by 2007, 94% of data storage was digital. Also highlighted the world's capacity to store information grew at an rate of 25% every year for 20 years up to 2007.

2012

Big data research

The US government reveals the Big Data Research & Development Initiative, covering multiple departments.

2014

The year of IoT

The “Internet of Things” gains traction as more itemsbegin to contain embedded tech.

2015

Smart cities

The year of the smart city, 2015 saw an increase in connected ‘things’ used in cities to improve lives within it. Smart cities use real-time data to enhance services and increase efficiency.

More reading

• An introduction to data encryption• What is a hybrid database?• What is an API? A brief introduction

Read more on the Ribbonfish blog.

Resources for this presentation: WinShuttle & GCN