Digital E-Memory

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A researcher at Microsoft has spent the last 10 years putting all of the information in his brain onto computers in order to preserve it. According to CNN, Gordon Bell "carries around video equipment, cameras and audio recorders to capture his conversations, commutes, trips and experiences. He also saves everything -- from restaurant receipts (he takes pictures of them) to correspondence, bills and medical records. He makes PDF files out of every Web page he views." The total size of his "e-memory" is over 350 gigabytes (not including streaming audio and video). He believes that by 2020 we will all have such transcripts of our lives.

I think this is just completely fascinating. We are all going this way already, whether we know it or not - an increasing percentage of your life is digitally available. The trick is getting Big Brother to work for you instead of against you. How can you be sure all this data is solely under your own control at your own discretion.

Imagine using this sort of data to automatically fill out your timesheet, for example. As long as it's your data - controlled by you - and you have the right to edit and control the timesheet before submittal, then it can only help your day.

Curt Finch writes for a project management blog as well.

Curt Finch

Curt Finch has more than two decades of software development and distributed workforce management experience. In 1997, Curt created the world's first internet-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offering. Curt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. His book, All Your Money, is available on Amazon.