Data Science: A Comprehensive Overview 1:9
ening the data deluge and big data realm. Such systems and services include but are
not limited to wearables, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile and social applications.
As we have seen and can predict, datafication and data quantification take place
at any time and any place by anybody in any form in any way in a non-traditional
manner, extent, depth, variety and speed.
— Quantification timing: anytime quantification, from working to studying, day-to-day
living, relaxing, enjoying entertainment and socializing;
— Quantification places: anyplace quantification, from biological systems to physical,
behavioral, emotional, cognitive, cyber, environmental, cultural, economic, sociologi-
cal and political systems and environments;
— Quantification bodies: anybody quantification, from selves to others, connected
selves, exo-selves [Kelly 2012] and the world, and from individuals to groups, or-
ganizations and societies;
— Quantification forms: anyform quantification, from observation to drivers, from ob-
jective to subjective, from physical to philosophical, from explicit to implicit, and from
qualitative to quantitative forms and aspects;
— Quantification ways: anysource quantification, such as sources and tools that in-
clude information systems, digitalization, sensors, surveillance and tracking systems,
the IoT, mobile devices and applications, social services and network platforms, and
wearable [Viseu and Suchman 2010] and Quantified Self (QS) devices and services;
and
— Quantification speed: anyspeed quantification, from static to dynamic, from finite to
infinite, and from incremental to exponential generation of data objects, sets, ware-
houses, lakes and clouds.
Examples of fast developing quantification areas are the health and medical do-
mains. We are datafying both traditional medical and health care data and “omics”
data (genomics, proteomics, microbiomics, metabolomics, etc.) and increasingly over-
whelming QS-based tracking data [Swan 2013] on personal, family, group, community,
and/or cohort levels.
3.2. Data Initiatives by Governments
To effectively understand and utilize everywhere data, data DNA and its potential, in-
creasing numbers of regional and global government initiatives [Security 2015] are be-
ing introduced at different levels and on different scales in this age of big data and data
science to promote data science research, innovation, funding support, policy making,
industrialization, and economy. Table II summarizes the major initiatives of several
countries and regions.
— The Australian Public Service Big Data Strategy [UN 2010] aims to “provide an op-
portunity to consider the range of opportunities presented to agencies in relation
to the use of big data, and the emerging tools that allow us to better appreciate
what it tells us, in the context of the potential concerns that this might raise”. It
addresses the identified big data strategy issues [AGIMO 2013]. Australia’s whole-
of-government Centre of Excellence in Data Analytics [AU 2016] coordinates relevant
government activities. The Australian Research Council has granted approval to the
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Sta-
tistical Frontiers [ACEMS 2014] to conduct research on big data-based mathematical
and statistical foundations. Another recent effort made by the Australian govern-
ment was the establishment of Data61 [Data61 2016], which consolidated the rele-
vant data-related human resources in the original National ICT Australia (NICTA)
[NICTA 2016] and CSIRO and aims for a unified platform for data research and in-
ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 1, No. 1, Article 1, Publication date: January 2016.