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“3.6 Zettabytes” — the puzzle of American information consumption

3.6 Zettabytes is a wooden puzzle created by me and Mark Kizelshteyn that visually and haptically illustrates media consumption in the United States. The title refers to the total amount of information data absorbed by the country for the year 2008 as calculated by a recent study (December 2009) published by the Global Information Industry Center at the University of California, San Diego. A zettabye is equal to one sextillion = 10^21 = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes, or roughly 5.1 trillion average PC hard drives of data!

The puzzle represents information consumption measured in hours [per American, per day] across seven major media categories — television, radio, print, phone, recorded music, computer, and videogames. Average time spent on each activity is mapped to the area of the brain; the total brain represents a 24-hour day while the surface area of each puzzle piece proportionally represents the time spent on that activity. Blank puzzle pieces signify time spent on anything else other than information consumption. Along with hours average data measured in gigabytes is also provided.

A 19th century phrenology diagram is employed as the basis for the puzzle. The juxtaposition between a familiar antique design and the absolutely contemporary, futuristic, almost unbelievable data that it communicates provides extra contrast for users to appreciate just how fully the modern-day media landscape has permeated our lives. When phrenology diagrams were first made this map/brain would have been almost completely blank, with maybe a tiny dot representing the very few citizens who had enough time to read books.

The board is made out of two pieces of 30 X 35 X 0.3 cm three-layer birch plywood and was cut with an Epilog Mini 24 Laser Cutter. Special thanks to the CabFabLab for making the project happen! More pictures after the jump.

Reference: Roger E. Bohn & James E. Short (2009). “How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers.” Global Information Industry Center at the University of California, San Diego. – [pdf]