Data surfing with big data

The usual big-data story leaves out crucial bits. We hear about the "what" — big, huge data of all kinds. We hear about the "when" — now and coming soon. We hear about the "how" — Hadoop with helpers. But we almost never hear about the "who" and the "why." Who's bothering to analyze all this data, and why?

If we believe big data's usual, small-bore spoke…