In today's AI landscape, where chatbots seamlessly answer queries, languages are effortlessly translated, and images are conjured from mere characters, it is imperative to understand the origins of the data underpinning these recent innovations. In this blog post, we discuss some of the myriad data sources that power our data-driven world. Let's dive into this!

User-generated data

The data you generate every day is a significant contributor to the digital universe. When you post on social media, shop online, or use a fitness app, you're creating user-generated data. This can include your posts, likes, comments, and even the products you browse. Companies collect and analyze this data to understand your preferences and behavior.

Sensors and IoT devices

Your smartphone, smartwatch, refrigerator, car, home, office, ... are equipped with small sensors that constantly gather data. These Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly interwoven in our daily lives; they monitor heart rates, sleeping phases, temperatures, number of people in a building, traveling speed, the weather, etc. This data helps us better understand our environment and is mostly used to enhance our daily lives. It's also a huge data privacy and security concern, but that's a different topic.

Websites and apps

Have you ever wondered how websites and apps offer personalized experiences? Many collect data about your interactions, like the pages you visit, the time you spend, and the buttons you click. This information helps tailor content and recommendations just for you.

Government and public data

Governments collect a vast amount of data and conduct national studies (for example BFS Admin in Switzerland). These studies are regularly made available to the public and can be used for various purposes, such as research, business planning, and policy analysis.

Business data

Companies generate data through their day-to-day operations. This includes sales transactions, inventory records, customer feedback, and employee performance metrics. Analyzing this data helps businesses make informed decisions and optimize their processes. Note that laws such as GDPR protect consumers from overly data-hungry companies and also put an expiration date on how long consumer data can be stored.

Web scraping and APIs

Sometimes, data is collected by scraping information from websites or using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) (for example OpenWeather APIs). These tools allow developers to access and retrieve data from various online sources. While collecting data via APIs doesn't create new data per se, combining data from different sources in useful ways can generate additional insights and therefore data.

Surveys and feedback forms

When you fill out surveys or feedback forms, you're contributing valuable data. Organizations use this input to understand customer satisfaction, product improvement areas, and market trends.

Open data initiatives

Some governments and organizations promote open data initiatives, making datasets freely available to the public. This fosters innovation and transparency while encouraging citizens to participate in data-driven projects.

Having the appropriate data gathering and storing policies is a cornerstone of modern society, and a fine line to balance competing interests. On one hand, access to the right data allows companies and governments to provide effective services to consumers. On the other hand, consumers' privacy needs to be protected in order for third-parties not to gain an unfair advantage in using data to manipulate behavior. We don't believe there's a right solution, rather there needs to be a healthy debate and corrective actions whenever we stray too far on either side of the right balance.

At Sense6 we curate our access to data sources (or build up our own) with clear use-cases in mind. If there is no specific service that the data supports, then we don't use it and we don't store it.