Saturday, April 6, 2013

Big data begins here!


We learn from this article (free account needed to read the whole thing) that "big data" began in 1854 when the telegraph was integrated into "big railroad" operations. And, a big railroad in 1854 was 500 miles of track with dozens of whistle stops.

The telegraph put a whole lot of near-real time data in the hands of local, regional, and main operations managers for the first time.

There was so much new stuff and so many new connections in the network -- perhaps the first real business operations network -- that something new was needed: The Organization Chart!

Yes, we can now say that the telegraph beget the organization chart! Who knew?

And, this first chart was upside down by today's convention: the little guys were at the top and el supremo was at the bottom -- an inverted pyramid.

And, get this: the organization chart enable delegation with reasonable reporting and metrics -- let's make the trains run on time! And, for the most part they did.

All of this is a heavy load for the domain of dots and dashes!


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