Unstructured data is a myth by Ram Subramanyam Gopalan.
From the post:
Couldn’t resist that headline! But seriously, if you peel the proverbial onion enough, you will see that the lack of tools to discover / analyze the structure of that data is the truth behind the opaqueness that is implied by calling the data “unstructured”.
This article will give you a firm basis for arguing with casual use of “unstructured” data as a phrase.
One point that stands above the others is that all the so-called “unstructured” data is generated by some process, automated or otherwise. That you may be temporarily ignorant of that process, doesn’t mean that the data is “unstructured.” Worth reading, more than once.