The market for data commodities is continuing to grow. As more data are collected and brokered, businesses need to be able to effectively appraise the value of the data they purchase.

Aleksi Aaltonen and colleagues explain the intricate process by which our day-to-day actions can be documented and ultimately transformed into data commodities. They emphasize the importance of ongoing datawork, which contextualizes organized data for relevant markets and client needs, in order to instill and preserve its value as a commodity.

Data analysts are urged to take advantage of the context-specific value of purchased data in order to capture eureka-moments leading to business innovation.