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60 Examples of Unstructured Data

John Spacey, updated on September 02, 2023

Unstructured data is any information that isn't specifically structured to be easy for machines to understand. Historically, virtually all computer code required information to be highly structured according to a predefined data model in order to be processed. For example, relational databases organize data into tables, rows and fields with constrained datatypes. Real world information isn't like this. As such, it is increasingly common for modern information technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence to process unstructured data. The following are examples.

Attitudes	Audiobooks
Behavioral observations	Blogs
Books	Call center recordings
Chats	Class notes
Conference calls	Contracts & agreements
Customer perceptions	DNA sequences
Documents	Drive recorder video
Emails	Feedback
Forum posts	Geological samples
Historical artifacts	Historical documents
Illustrations	Instant messages
Interviews	Laws
Magazines	Medical images
Messages	Microscopic images
Movie scripts	Music
Myths	Narratives
Newspaper articles	Opinions
Paintings & drawings	Patent documents
Photos	Physician's notes
Podcasts	Policies
Press releases	Processes
Product descriptions	Research papers
Reviews	Satellite imagery
Security camera footage	Social media posts
Speeches	Stories
Text	Unstructured logs
Unstructured medical records	Unstructured weather data
Values	Videos
Vlogs	Voice recordings
Voicemail	White papers

Writing

Textual analysis of written works such as books and blogs.

Social Media

Scanning streams of social media to detect real time information such as rumors about a stock.

Natural Language

Systems that accept voice commands or understand what people are saying for purposes such as analytics.

Photographs & Video

Analysis of video to understand events such as a video camera that monitors water levels flowing into a dam reservoir.

Communications

Scanning communications such as emails to detect spam.

Science

Looking for patterns in interstellar radio messages in order to discover intelligent life.

Health

Analysis of x-ray images for signs of disease.

Search

A search engine that spiders unstructured web pages in order to understand their content.

Notes

It is incorrect to say that all weather data, medical records or sensor data is unstructured. These types of data include both structured data such as database records and unstructured data such as photo imagery.

It is common for a technology to use unstructured data to produce structured data. For example, an artificial intelligence that monitors social media conversations to come up with a measurement of brand perceptions at a point in time.

Overview: Unstructured Data
Type	Data
Definition	Data that isn't structured for machines to understand.
Value	Most source data is unstructured.
Related Concepts	Data Dark Data Personally Identifiable Data