Book Chapter
Data, data, and more data. Data from all sides, news, opinions, decisions, and even when we try to build a perception of the most different issues, data are used to support the main concepts involved.
The participation of data in our daily lives is not new. We have always relied on them to establish our perception of the world and the construction of opinions and decision making. However, more and more available, data became part of everyone’s daily life and in all spheres of action. Every day we are put in contact with information based on data and, with them gaining increasing prominence, we are impelled to try to understand what it is about. But it is not always an easy task, there are many ‘DATA-something- something’ defining concepts that contain other concepts related to what we can do with the data.
This flood of citations to the term ‘DATA’ has been growing exponentially: there are posts, news, articles, books, and everyone bringing ‘DATA-something-something’ as if everyone had an obligation to know the meaning of these concepts.
Many of these concepts come from real situations and result from factors that technological advances provide, while others are defined by companies (the so famous buzzwords). One issue that emerges from this scenario is that often used as a sales pitch, these concepts end up receiving connotations that overlap with the denoting senses.
In this sense, a selection of concepts that permeate the question of data is presented, especially those that have a direct relation to the use of data in digital informational environments. The concepts were selected based on the criterion of a greater presence in publications, especially books, and, in the end, we present an example of using data to illustrate exactly this question of the presence of the term ‘DATA’ in books. It is worth remembering that they are simplified definitions of each of the concepts, and that they aimed at an overview of each term, but that allows the reader to position himself when he finds the so-called ‘DATA-something-something’.
Access to the e-book (only in Portuguese)
