The average amount of data associated with an individual person’s ‘digital life’ is now at least 44.5GB. That has complex implications not just for how individuals keep their data organised, but how IT pros can manage it.
Hard drive picture from Shutterstock
Business Insider reports that Professor Vladimir Shalaev told the International Conference for Quantum Technologies in Moscow over the weekend that the typical amount of data associated with an individual has risen from 500 megabytes in 1986 to 44.5GB in 2007. Note that this figure reflects all the data that’s associated with that individual, rather than the data directly stored by them (very few people would have owned that many floppy disks back in 1986).
Given the 2007 cut-off date and the proliferation of online services since that time, it seems reasonable to assume that the amount of data associated with an individual is now much higher. That creates several challenges:
- scaling ‘big data’ analysis to deal with this proliferation of information
- ensuring better security and privacy for all this data
- challenges in replicating this large volume of data, especially on slower or patchier networks
Ever Wondered How Much Junk The Average Person Has On Their Computer? [Business Insider]
Comments
One response to “Big Data For All: Your Life Takes Up 44.5GB”
How much of that is porn?
Well, going by how the article is worded, none. It’s simply information gathered and stored about your digital footprint by organisations online. There might be a list of sites you have visited as gathered by Google via Chrome, or something similar, but none of it would actually be that.
Big data is the future, Attend the Bigdata Bootcamp – Hyderabad on Aug 2-4 2013, Secure your spot and get 30% Discount using the Code VNET expires on July 25 2013. For Agenda & Registration details visit http://globalbigdataconference.com/bigdata-bootcamp-hyderabad.php