This world is a digital one, at least much more so than the majority of the generations before us have known. For the past few decades, the world has slowly been converting to become one that is largely made of and navigated with technology. This shift over time may have started slowly, but the last few years in particular have seen rapid advancements in the ways that we use technology, its prevalence in daily life, and how dependent we have become on it. The science fiction stories of yesteryear are becoming the possibilities of tomorrow. There are great debates about the importance of one’s privacy in such an accessible and interconnected world. But for the majority of people using technology and the Internet, the benefits of the convenience and luxuries we enjoy seem to outweigh the concerns of privacy and personal property.

From identity resolution to sentiment analysis software

There are a number of uses for the types of technology that we now know, particularly in text analytics. This is the process of taking unstructured data and processing it in a way that makes it useful across a number of applications. Companies often use this type of analysis to understand consumer preferences, demand, and trends. More specifically, text analytics can also include other types of data analysis, such as sentiment analysis, or opinion mining. Software for sentiment analysis helps to interpret subjective matter like attitude and emotional reaction. Meanwhile, identity resolution software can recognize a person who has different identities connected to him or her for whatever reason. Similarly, entity matching software categorizes raw data to match individuals, locations, events, and the like. Each of these types of data analysis and interpretation requires specific software to compare information within and across data sets.

Text mining and data analysis in a largely digital world

There are those who are opposed to software and programs that process personal data and information for the sake of a corporation or government. But many see that things are changing. The way that we understand data will inevitably shift as that data changes its shape as well. As more of the world goes digital, more of the analysis will become technological in nature as well. From information retrieval to natural language processing and information extraction, and finally to data mining, the text analytics process is complex and can be quite thorough and accurate.

The world is online. So much of what goes on in our lives is connected to some form of technology or another. Just within the last few years, there has been a massive jump in the amount of data that has been created. It has been projected that the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes by the year 2020, which is rushing up on us pretty quickly. That astonishing amount of information, 40 ZB, is the equivalent of about 1.7 megabytes of new data being created every second of every day, for every single person! Technology continues to grow, and society shifts with it.