US Government Has More "Big Data" Than It Knows What to Do With

It’s a valid question: “Why has all the data the government has been collecting turned out to be too big to handle?” The results of a U.S. and state government IT survey released this week by the public sector IT community MeriTalk sheds a bright, halogen spotlight on the answer: It’s because it’s being collected in an unfiltered format and is waiting for someone – anyone – to claim it and write viable applications for it.

If you’ve followed along with RWW’s expanding coverage of technology trends in the public sector, you’ll recall we take an occasional look at the MeriTalk survey, which is an ongoing dialogue with IT professionals in the U.S. federal government. In a report released Monday summarizing the views of 151 respondents, only 60% say they capture “big data” to any degree.