There are many sources that offer estimates of either the size of the information held, or the volume of information
exchanged, on the World Wide Web. The problem is, the the figures are so large they are beyond most people's ability to comprehend them or relate the figures to some other measure or scale.

The following news snippet, provides a snap-shot of a single site over four days.

If there was any doubt in your mind, about Internet being the repository of contemporary information and human thought, this small fraction of the whole network, should dispell those doubts. This site is one among millions. The ease of use, immense searchable bredth and depth of the information, has eclipsed the volume of information on paper.

Print will not go away, at least not quickly. It is very deeply entrenched. But all products owe their useful lives to a favorable balance of economic factors like value, availability, and utility as percieved by customers. The widespread and expanding uses found for Internet, the ever shrinking cost per function, the increasing sophistication of devices and the utility provided by accessable, searchable subjects, make it the media of choice for a rapidly growing percentage of the world's population.

We believe the global economy has reached a "tipping-point" in the use of digital infromation and that this trend will accelerate over the decade.

How can we make that statement? We've commented before about the size and scope of the Networked Society (see 10 December, Sizing the Networked Society). The article shown below, when set in the context of millions of sites covering millions of subjects, says alot about where we turn for information and where we store it. The article does not speak to the amount of infromation that was printed on paper covering the Mars landing but that number has to be a small fraction of the information held, accessable and sent digitally. Read on.

• Jan. 7, 2004
Mars rules the Net: Just four days into the Spirit rover's mission on Mars, NASA's Red Planet Web sites can put up a hamburger-stand sign saying "10 Million Served" — and the incredible thing is that hardly anyone had to stand in line.

Between Saturday, Jan 1 and midday Wednesday, Jan 5, the NASA Portal network received 1.3 billion hits from 10.4 million unique users, says Jeanne Holm, chief knowledge architect at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She said the system has pushed out more than 34.8 terabytes of information — that's basically 35 trillion characters' worth. In comparison, the full textual content of the Library of Congress has been estimated at a mere 20 terabytes.

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