Introducing the Big Data Playbook for Government

To learn more about how your agency can excel with big data, be sure to check out our guide: The Big Data Playbook for Government. 

On August 31, 1854, the London district of Soho was struck with a cholera outbreak, and by September 10, the neighborhood had reported over 500 deaths. Curious as to how the outbreak was spreading so quickly, John Snow, often credited as one of the founders of epidemiology, began what would now be considered rudimentary data collection methods in the town.

Snow began collecting information on fatalities and sick citizens and then mapped the location of the data. Through his analysis, Snow deduced that the source of the outbreak was a contaminated water pump, and he convinced officials to replace it. Soon after, the outbreak stopped, and life returned to normal for London citizens. By clustering the data, Snow was able to visualize the outbreak and help officials make an informed decision, saving countless lives.

Today, we have surpassed Snow’s primitive — yet at the time, effective — data analysis techniques, and our society is creating more data than Snow could have ever imagined. A recent IDC research report highlights the growth in data:

• From 2005 to 2020, the digital universe will grow from 130 exabytes to 40,000 exabytes, or 40 trillion gigabytes.
• From now until 2020, the digital universe will double every two years.
• The investment in spending on IT hardware, software, services, telecommunications and staff will grow by 40 percent between 2012 and 2020.
• By 2020, as much as 33 percent of the digital universe will contain information that might be valuable if analyzed.

This growth in data represents a remarkable opportunity for government. As public sector professionals, your mission is to learn how to capitalize on your high value and authoritative data. You are responsible for learning what skills, tools and IT you need to transform your agency.

And that’s precisely why GovLoop and our industry partners have created our latest guide, The Big Data Playbook for Government.

In this playbook, we provide you with a framework to bring big data to your agency. We break down big data into manageable components to help you understand how to make big data a reality at your agency. Our guide will serve as a roadmap for innovation and provide you with step-by-step instructions to deploy big data at your agency. This playbook will:

• Teach you how to bring big data to your agency.
• Identify which programs to select for a big data initiative.
• Show you what big data is and how to define it for your agency.
• Explore the necessary workforce skills for big data.
• Examine what kind of IT supports big data programs.
• Provide you with worksheets and activities designed to bring big data to your agency and build your big data roadmap.
• Share three government case studies.
• Highlight how industry can support government’s big data efforts.

If you’ve felt like your agency has been sitting on the bench, now’s your chance to get in the game. After you go through our playbook, you’ll be ready to bring big data to your agency.