Utopia, Inc.: iData – Part 2 “How Data Creates Business Value”.
The content in iTunes® is made up of binary bits and bytes – we like to call this data. It’s arranged in a certain way we like to call it music (complex data). These “objects” have certain characteristics or attributes, we like to capture such as Title (Name), Author (Band), Length (Time, in seconds), Genre / Classification (Rock, Blues, Jazz) and so on (more data). iTunes® allows me to add my own “tags” to these objects like “favorite” and apply a star rating system.
Each time I play a song iTunes® adds one increment to that song’s counter (usage) – all of this is still data. As the data is built layer upon layer, more and more value is added to it, depending on its use, distribution, how many people it affects and what it affects, where, when and why.
This data, the processes and system wrapped around it gives us the ability to create playlists which are yet another kind of data – linked lists of my favorite songs from certain authors from certain genres. iTunes® ‘Genius’ looks at all this and says, using heuristics and pattern matching technology, maybe this guy would like to buy some more from this band or in that genre, and presents me several appealing options (to buy more data). Bang! Targeted or micro-marketing – it’s like an iRobot for your music.
Continues @ http://utopiainc.blogspot.com
