By Klarity In Big Data. What is “big data”? Given its widespread usage across mass media environments, it is not surprising that the precise meaning of the term is often vague. Big data can be understood as the convergence of four dimensions, or the four V’s: volume, variety, velocity and veracity. The 4V’s is a data management trend that was conceived to help organisations realise and cope with the emergence of big data. Volume. This dimension refers to the quantity of data, as big data is frequently defined in terms of massive data sets with measures such as petabytes and zettabytes commonly referenced. And these vast amounts of data are generated every second. This used to be employee-created data.