Cifras casi incomprensible por su magnitud que miden la exposición de una persona (en EE.UU.) a flujos de información por día, revela este Informe publicado recién por el Global Information Industry Center (GIIC) de la Universidad de San Diego, California. Para efectos de esta medición todos los flujos se convierten en byts y se suman.
En 2008, los norteamericans de USA consumían información por el equivalente a 1.3 billones (miles de millones) de horas (1.300.000.000); un promedio de casi 12 horas por día. El consumo total fue de 3,6 zettabytes (10.845.000.000 palabras), que corresponde a 100.500 palabras (34 gigabytes) para una persona promedio por día. (Nota: un zettabyte es 10 a la 21 potencia bytes; un millón de millones de gigabytes).
How Much Information? 2009. Report on American Consumers
Autores: Roger E. Bohn y James E. Short.
Global Information Industry Center
University of California, San Diego
December 9, 2009
Bajar el report http://200.6.99.248/~bru487cl/files/HMI_2009_ConsumerReport_Dec9_2009.pdf 1,84 MB
Algunas definiciones y resumen de mediciones
Flows versus stocks of information
Our definition emphasizes flows of data – data in motion. We count every flow that is delivered to a person as information. Another approach goes to the opposite extreme: it counts data that is stored somewhere, such as a book, whether or not it is subsequently used.
We distinguish between data and information. Information is a subset of data – but what is data? For our purposes, we define data as artificial signals intended to convey meaning. ‘Artificial,’ because data is created by machines, such as microphones, cameras, environmental sensors, barcode readers, or computer keyboards. Streams of data from sensors are extensively transformed by a series of machines, such as cable routers (location change), storage devices (time shift), and computers (symbol and meaning change). These transformations, in turn, create new data.
In 2008, Americans consumed information for about 1.3 trillion hours, an average of almost 12 hours per day. Consumption totaled 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words, corresponding to 100,500 words and 34 gigabytes for an average person on an average day. A zettabyte is 10 to the 21st power bytes, a million million gigabytes. These estimates are from an analysis of more than 20 different sources of information, from very old (newspapers and books) to very new (portable computer games, satellite radio, and Internet video). Information at work is not included.
We defined “information” as flows of data delivered to people and we measured the bytes, words, and hours of consumer information. Video sources (moving pictures) dominate bytes of information, with 1.3 zettabytes from television and approximately 2 zettabytes of computer games. If hours or words are used as the measurement, information sources are more widely distributed, with substantial amounts from radio, Internet browsing, and others. All of our results are estimates.
Previous studies of information have reported much lower quantities. Two previous How Much Information? studies, by Peter Lyman and Hal Varian in 2000 and 2003, analyzed the quantity of original content created, rather than what was consumed. A more recent study measured consumption, but estimated that only .3 zettabytes were consumed worldwide in 2007.
Hours of information consumption grew at 2.6 percent per year from 1980 to 2008, due to a combination of population growth and increasing hours per capita, from 7.4 to 11.8. More surprising is that information consumption in bytes increased at only 5.4 percent per year. Yet the capacity to process data has been driven by Moore’s Law, rising at least 30 percent per year. One reason for the slow growth in bytes is that color TV changed little over that period. High-definition TV is increasing the number of bytes in TV programs, but slowly.
The traditional media of radio and TV still dominate our consumption per day, with a total of 60 percent of the hours. In total, more than three-quarters of U.S. households’ information time is spent with non-computer sources.
Despite this, computers have had major effects on some aspects of information consumption. In the past, information consumption was overwhelmingly passive, with telephone being the only interactive medium. Thanks to computers, a full third of words and more than half of bytes are now received interactively.Reading, which was in decline due to the growth of television, tripled from 1980 to 2008, because it is the overwhelmingly preferred way to receive words on the Internet.
Partial Breakdown of Delivery Methods AnalyzedTelevision
Television
Cable TV – SD (Standard Definition)
Over air TV – SD
DVD
Cable TV – HD (High Definition)
Over air TV – HD
Satellite – HD
Satellite – SD
Mobile TV
Other TV (Delayed View)
Internet video
Print Media
Newspapers
Magazines
Books
Radio
Satellite Radio
AM Radio
FM Radio
Phone
Fixed Line Voice
Cellular Voice
Computer
High-end Computer gaming
Computer gaming
Console gaming
Handheld gaming
Internet including email
Offline programs
Movies
Movies in theaters
Music
Recorded Music

Índice
1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8
1.1 Data and Information…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10
1.2 What Is Information?……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10
1.3 How Many Hours?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11
1.4 How Many Words?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..12
1.5 How Many Bytes?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13
1.6 Storage vs. Consumption ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..14
1.7 Valuing Information………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14
2 TRADITIONAL INFORMATION IN U.S. HOUSEHOLDS…………………………………………………………15
2.1 Television……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15
2.2 Radio…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17
2.3 Telephone……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17
2.4 Print…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
2.5 Movies………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
2.6 Recorded Music…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18
3 COMPUTER INFORMATION IN U.S. HOUSEHOLDS……………………………………………………………..19
3.1 Communicating and Browsing the Internet……………………………………………………………………………….19
3.2 Internet Video……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….20
3.3 Computer Gaming ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21
3.4 Off-Internet Home Computer Use …………………………………………………………………………………………..22
3.5 Smart Phones ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22
4 TRENDS, PERSPECTIVES AND THE FUTURE OF U.S. INFORMATION CONSUMPTION……24
4.1 Analyzing the Growth of Information………………………………………………………………………………………24
4.2 Where are the Missing Bytes?…………………………………………………………………………………………………25
4.2.1 Dark Data………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….25
4.2.2 Two Kinds of Quality: Variety and Resolution……………………………………………………………………..26
4.3 Analyzing Information Consumption…………………………………………………………………………………………26
4.3.1 How Much Information is Delivered via the Internet?……………………………………………………………27
4.3.2 The Rise of Interaction……………………………………………………………………………………………………….28
4.4 The Future of Consumer Information……………………………………………………………………………………….28
APPENDIX A: UC BERKELEY HMI? STUDIES………………………………………………………………………….30
APPENDIX B: DETAIL TABLE…………………………………………………………………………………………………….32
ENDNOTES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………34