Data, Data Everywhere: A Report on Managing Information

Overview

This special report from The Economist covers the phenomenon of the Data Deluge--everywhere you look, the quantity of information in the world is soaring. According to one estimate, mankind created 150 exabytes (billion gigabytes) of data in 2005. This year, it will create 1,200 exabytes. Merely keeping up with this flood, and storing the bits that might be useful, is difficult enough. Analyzing it, to spot patterns and extract useful information, is harder still. Even so, the data deluge is already starting to transform business, government, science and everyday life. It has great potential for good-as long as consumers, companies and governments make the right choices about when to restrict the flow of data, and when to encourage it.