BIG DATA infographic Big Data is on the minds of marketers, communication professionals, and, naturally, scientists and software developers.

This infographic was sent to me to be shared at face value. While some of the points are not clearly substantiated (particularly in the upper area where is says “Substantial shift in economic power and source of economic value”, I do think the characteristics of Big Data (the Vs of Big Data – Volume, Velocity, Variety) are nicely displayed.

What I believe are the most interesting points are posted mostly as simple statements, and though might have been designed with more research and more data, perhaps showing comparison or growth over time for individual areas, it’s still worth reading to see big data’s use in “everyday” activities.

The summaries about savings in personal spending, urban transport, waste management, healthcare, economic development, predicting and understanding crime, fire services, and retail  all have good points.

The infographic (which apparently was commissioned by vouchercloud.com, a UK-based firm) credits both US and UK based sources, including Mashable.com, theGuardian.com, forbes.com, uk.finance.yahoo.com, and the book Big Data by
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier, which was released in 2013.

IBM is suggesting there’s a fourth “V” – veracity, which isn’t mentioned here, but should it be? Your comments below are welcomed!