For a fistful of (big) data [Per un pugno di (big) data]

For some years now, the term big data has become common in many fields, even outside of the computer science community, primarily thanks to the informative contribution that data - if properly processed - can provide to organizations and companies to support the decision-making process. What does big data mean? What does it mean to process them through artificial intelligence? Mostly, what does extracting value from data would mean? This paper addresses some of these questions to clarify technical elements for non-experts, discussing some critical elements and points of future attention.