Can our digital data and memory be preserved? | DW Documentary

Digital data is being produced at a record rate. DVDs, CDs and hard drives have limited lifespans. What does the future of digital storage look like? [Online until: 31.10.2018]
Technology is constantly changing. The volume of digital data produced by modern society is permanently growing - a real deluge known as "Big Data." It is estimated that 90 percent of the total global volume of data has only been generated within the last two years. How can we bring order to and store such enormous amounts of digital data? How can we ensure that key moments of life captured on digital photos will still be preserved in 20 or 30 years’ time? Or that in 100 or 500 years, information on the storage locations of nuclear waste and the necessary safety precautions are still available? How can data be stored permanently? Each potential solution presents a new scientific and technological challenge. What will replace USB flash drives? DNA? Quartz? Or will we have to go back to the sheets of paper that proved their worth over the centuries? Memory is an essential issue for our society and for everyone one of us. Up to now, various media have been used to store our memories and a wealth of information. The average life expectancy of an inscription on stone is 10,000 years. On parchment: 1,000 years. On film: 100 years. On vinyl: 50 years. With computers, our memory is facing an unexpected vulnerability. Some technologies have already disappeared. This uncertainty is especially troubling in that we have opted to make everything digital, believing that our data would remain retrievable for a very long time. Yet not a single digital medium has managed to achieve long-term success. Will we be able to ensure the longevity of our digital data? Or is this data doomed to disappear, sooner or later?
_______
DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch high-class documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world around you with DW Documentary.
Subscribe to DW Documentary:
#
For more documentaries visit:
Instagram
Facebook:
DW netiquette policy: