structured data vs. unstructured data - SoojungHong/TextMining GitHub Wiki

Unstructured data

Unstructured data is information, in many different forms, that doesn't hew to conventional data models and thus typically isn't a good fit for a mainstream relational database. Thanks to the emergence of alternative platforms for storing and managing such data, it is increasingly prevalent in IT systems and is used by organizations in a variety of business intelligence and analytics applications.

Structured data

Traditional structured data, such as the transaction data in financial systems and other business applications, conforms to a rigid format to ensure consistency in processing and analyzing it.

Types of unstructured data

One of the most common types of unstructured data is text. Unstructured text is generated and collected in a wide range of forms, including Word documents, email messages, PowerPoint presentations, survey responses, transcripts of call center interactions, and posts from blogs and social media sites.

Other types of unstructured data include images, audio and video files. Machine data is another category, one that's growing quickly in many organizations. For example, log files from websites, servers, networks and applications -- particularly mobile ones -- yield a trove of activity and performance data.