What Is Raw Data?

Raw data is what it sounds like still needs to be cooked. It's like buying a raw chicken from the store and then having to cook it before you can eat it. You need to prepare raw data to use for its intended purpose. Raw data is also known as untreated data or primary data. It's any information that hasn't been through any filtering or processing by computers or humans yet. If you were trying to run a campaign on Facebook and wanted to know how many impressions there had been this month, that number would be raw data because Facebook's system hasn't processed it. It's important to note that raw data doesn't necessarily mean unstructured; it could still be in some structured format (like an Excel spreadsheet) but not yet have any analysis run over it. The old saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out. " for information professionals, this is only true if you're talking about raw data. Raw data is often unstructured or unformatted. It can be in the form of files, database records, or any other digital data. Raw data is extracted, analyzed, processed and used by humans or purpose-built software applications to conclude, make projections or remove meaningful information. Processed data can be presented on a screen or printed on paper. Data is the new oil. Well, it's not quite as valuable, but it is everywhere. Data has become the lifeblood of businesses and corporations, or at least it should be. Your company might miss some severe opportunities if you're not using it to its full potential. You see, data can do incredible things when processed correctly. It can help you make better decisions about how to run your business; it can help you predict trends before they happen, and most importantly, it can provide insights into what customers want so that you can give them exactly that!