Features

Lyman and Varian studied information stored on four kinds of media -- print, film, magnetic (such as computer hard disks) and optical (such as CDs and DVDs), as well as information flowing through various electronic channels (telephone, radio, TV and the Internet). Their research was funded by Microsoft, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and EMC, companies that sell data storage and management technology.

The researchers relied on existing data such as ISBN numbers to count books and journals, as well as industry reports about data handled by enterprise servers for things such as supermarket sales and airline bookings. They performed surveys to estimate how much unique information exists on each type of hard drive.

More than 90 percent of the new information was stored on magnetic media, with just 7 percent stored on film and a fraction on paper or optical media, the researchers found.

``All of a sudden, almost every aspect of life around the world is being recorded and stored in some information format,'' Lyman said. ``That's a real change in our human ecology.''

The researchers also found that Americans are both information powerhouses and paper hogs. The United States produces about 40 percent of the world's new stored information, and North Americans use almost 12,000 sheets of paper per person per year, about 5,000 more than their European counterparts.

As an economist, Varian sees a correlation between the United States' economic activity and its information production. But he said he thinks the value of information should be measured by whether it helps people make better decisions.

``We're producing all this information, but we don't necessarily have the tools to use it most effectively,'' he said.

Varian said he won't continue to quantify the world's information production next year. Instead, his next research project will involve how to get information that doesn't exist, such as where to look for a good plumber.

Here is the SJ Mercury story.

Here is the link to Peter Lyman and Hal R. Varian study "How Much Information? 2003" .

(thanks to K. Rajaraman)