Information/Data Processing: Turning Raw Data into Usable Insights
Information or data processing involves collecting and transforming raw data into a usable, desired format. This transformation—referred to as processing—can be done either manually or automatically, following a predefined sequence of operations. Historically, manual processing was slow and prone to errors, but today, most data processing is handled automatically by computers, which provide fast, accurate results.
One key aspect of data processing is converting raw data into the required form based on the application’s needs. This means turning raw data into valuable information that can be used for various tasks. The input data comes from multiple sources, such as text files, Excel sheets, databases, and even unstructured data like images, audio clips, videos, and GPRS data. Common data processing tools include Hadoop, Storm, HPCC, Qubole, Statwing, and CouchDB.