Nouns are important because they provide context to data. Nouns lay at the heart of all data-based planning and big data analytics. Collectively, nouns embody an extremely powerful concept called reference data. Data Informed brought this interesting topic to us in their article, “Data without Context is No Data At All.”
Reference data comprises relatively small and distinct controlled data sets that are used to qualify raw data. Information analysts and scientists depend on the value of reference data. In fact, the Association of American Medical Colleges holds a yearly conference focused on information technology in medical education and research. Topics include reference data management and ontologies, enterprise taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, data integration, analytics and data governance.
As the perception of data as a valuable asset spreads, we hope to see more than just the healthcare market recognize the need to manage reference data more carefully.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
