A Brief Introduction to Big Data for Humanists

Abstract

The term‘big data’is still somewhat confusing for researchers, as most as-sociate it with its most basic objectives such as data collection and processing ofoperations and do not have a clear overview of its scope and implications (Favar-etto et al. 2020). Moreover, there is a certain sense of uneasiness towards big dataas it is a cultural phenomenon in a state of constant change and evolution andthe use of this concept as a buzzword further aggravates its conceptual vague-ness. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to offer a synthetic vision of what isunderstood as big data to serve as a starting point for researchers in the field ofhumanities