If one thing is universally true about New Year’s predictions, it’s that they are extrapolations of existing trends. Most published predictions about Big Data in 2014 have to do with enterprise adoption of various technologies because, among other reasons, those trends are more visible. The predictions in this post are a little different. They’re based on experience in the Data Analysis startup community (as opposed to the larger Big Data market), which is a little more hidden, and where some particularly exciting trends are emerging.

For the last several days, the internet has been abuzz about the MTV Video Music Awards. Most of the attention has focused on Miley Cyrus' on-stage antics, leaving some of us longing for a deeper analysis of the actual competition. If Grantland can dedicate 3,000 words to the 33-49 Portland Trail Blazers, don’t we deserve to know, empirically, if #thatPower by will.i.am and the Biebs had better choreography than that in the Pitbull and J-Lo collaboration Live It Up? Is that really too much too ask?