Where once we may have kept family photographs in a drawer or family albums, now we have ceded some of our ownership rights over to the platforms where we posted them. Silvio Rusmigo / The National
Where once we may have kept family photographs in a drawer or family albums, now we have ceded some of our ownership rights over to the platforms where we posted them. Silvio Rusmigo / The National
Where once we may have kept family photographs in a drawer or family albums, now we have ceded some of our ownership rights over to the platforms where we posted them. Silvio Rusmigo / The National
Where once we may have kept family photographs in a drawer or family albums, now we have ceded some of our ownership rights over to the platforms where we posted them. Silvio Rusmigo / The National


How well are we preserving old photos or all that data we create every day?


  • English
  • Arabic

April 11, 2024

By some metrics, we are drowning in data. A 2019 World Economic Forum report estimated that by next year 463 exabytes of data – a single exabyte is equivalent to 1 billion gigabytes – will be created every day.

To put that figure into context, the entirety of global mobile data traffic was expected to reach 130 exabytes every month by the end of last year.

These are big and baffling numbers by any measure – and if we are creating vast volumes of data every day, why is it that digital record keeping might be at risk or at least on the edge?

A 2024 academic study of more than 7 million works published in digital scholarly journals found that more than a quarter of that large sample size were “seemingly unpreserved” or lost.

The report’s author, Martin Paul Eve, concluded that digital preservation was fragile and that warnings issued nearly 20 years ago calling for urgent action to preserve archival material had been relatively unheeded.

The server hall at Facebook’s European data storage centre in Lulea, Sweden. Bloomberg.
The server hall at Facebook’s European data storage centre in Lulea, Sweden. Bloomberg.
The great irony of the information age: the more data we produce, the less we properly preserve

This is what has been described by some as the great irony of the information age: more data is being produced than ever before, but those records may well be less accessible than ever before. The more we produce, the less we properly preserve.

The issue is compounded by the fractured nature of our digital world.

Post-pandemic hybrid working takes place on an expanding array of platforms. A 2023 Forbes study found that the average office worker spent half their working week communicating on digital platforms. An average hour of an office worker’s life might be spent hopping between a Zoom or Teams call, answering queries on Slack or email, and checking other platforms on their smartphone, such as WhatsApp.

A working life essentially exists in a series of digital silos, and every day a segment of that data is lost, damaged or becomes hard to retrieve. Our lives outside work could easily be characterised in a similar manner, albeit with a single silo (smartphone) housing a constellation of smaller repositories of digital information (apps). They have exposure to similar risks.

It is for others to make a judgment on what effect that may be having on people and society, although you don’t have to search with any intensity at all to find multiple takes online on how smartphones have ruined this or that part of contemporary living or experience. It could be countered that it’s not ruination but change or progress that has taken place – and that’s where we go back to data production and preservation.

In many households, spring marks the regular ritual of decluttering. Traditionally, that process involves sifting through piles of paper and belongings and working out what has outlived its purpose or usefulness.

It is often a reminder that we acquire objects and paperwork easily, but we find it hard to dispose of them. The process of restructuring and ordering provides a form of catharsis to some in spring cleaning. So, too, the discovery of long-forgotten objects and the decisions over whether to archive or dispose of them.

In years gone by, that process might have involved reviewing handwritten letters kept for reasons of sentiment or significance. Now, much of that correspondence may be on WhatsApp – and maybe set to disappear, be deleted or be rendered “seemingly unpreserved” – or any of those other digital tools we use to navigate life.

Rune Bjerkestrand, Piql's managing director, at the Arctic World Archive. Courtesy of Piql
Rune Bjerkestrand, Piql's managing director, at the Arctic World Archive. Courtesy of Piql

The same WEF data that produced the daily exabytes insight also estimated that about 300 billion emails are sent every day – often instantly deleted by the stressed, information-overwhelmed recipient. Just as we produce more data every day, so we live under near constant threat of information loss.

One answer that’s been offered to mitigate that risk is to take data offline. The National previously reported on a James Bond-style solution to this problem that offered people the chance to cold-store their data in a secure remote location that billed itself as a global memory vault.

The site for their repository was a decommissioned coal mine within the Arctic Circle – close to polar bears, but far from prying eyes. One of the company’s executives told me at the time of a large data drop into the mine in 2020 that the archive sparked complex discussions among its customers about what to preserve in the heap of information that accumulates each day.

And so it should – preservation is one side of the coin, curation is the other.

Where once we may have kept family photographs in a drawer or family albums, now we have ceded some of our ownership rights over to the platforms where we posted them. The photo albums on our phones and in digital storage are, in all likelihood, an eclectic mix of pictures to be proud of, screenshots that should have been discarded but are stored and images that have a currency in the moment they were taken but have no long-term value.

That, perhaps, is the other irony of the data-soaked world of today. So much of it is available, but not necessarily in a form that is easily curated. We may have lost what we should be preserving, we may have saved what we should have lost.

Spring cleaning may become a perma-task for all the seasons of the digital world.

AndhaDhun

Director: Sriram Raghavan

Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan

Rating: 3.5/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%C2%A0specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Etwo%20permanent%20magnet%20synchronous%20motors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Etwo-speed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E625hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E850Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E456km%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh737%2C480%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

THE SPECS

Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)

Power: 141bhp 

Torque: 250Nm 

Price: Dh64,500

On sale: Now

While you're here
US tops drug cost charts

The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.

Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.

In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.

Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol. 

The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.

High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

Key fixtures from January 5-7

Watford v Bristol City

Liverpool v Everton

Brighton v Crystal Palace

Bournemouth v AFC Fylde or Wigan

Coventry v Stoke City

Nottingham Forest v Arsenal

Manchester United v Derby

Forest Green or Exeter v West Brom

Tottenham v AFC Wimbledon

Fleetwood or Hereford v Leicester City

Manchester City v Burnley

Shrewsbury v West Ham United

Wolves v Swansea City

Newcastle United v Luton Town

Fulham v Southampton

Norwich City v Chelsea

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

At a glance

- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years

- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills

- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis

- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector

- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes

- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.

How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

Miguel Cotto world titles:

WBO Light Welterweight champion - 2004-06
WBA Welterweight champion – 2006-08
WBO Welterweight champion – Feb 2009-Nov 2009
WBA Light Middleweight champion – 2010-12
WBC Middleweight champion – 2014-15
WBO Light Middleweight champion – Aug 2017-Dec 2017

Electoral College Victory

Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate. 

 

Popular Vote Tally

The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.

CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi

Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

Golden Dallah

For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.

Al Mrzab Restaurant

For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.

Al Derwaza

For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup. 

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
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Updated: April 11, 2024, 2:00 PM`