Big data refers to the massive amounts of data being created from various sources such as social media posts, website transactions, and sensor readings. It is characterized by its volume, velocity, and variety. New technologies and the digitization of information have led to an explosion in big data. Tools like Hadoop, R, and Hive help analyze big data across distributed systems. Analyzing big data can reveal patterns and make predictions to help organizations make better decisions. Open data and APIs also make some big data publicly available for analysis.