The total amount of newly generated data on Earth continues to grow each year. With the spread of the Internet of Things (IoT), even "parking lot availability information" and "amount of garbage collected in the city's trash can" are now treated as "data". The spread of smartphones has made it easier for people to take pictures, which is also supporting the increase in data. This is because many photos are stored in the cloud as “image data”.

But can that "data" create something new in our lives?

"ANALOG MEMORY DESK" is a desk that records information on paper, not in the cloud, memory, or hard disk. It features a paper roll and a handle attached to the legs. Roll Created by Kirsten Camara of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota, USA.


The top plate of "ANALOG MEMORY DESK" is lined with paper so that you can take notes with a pen or pencil. At the end of the day, you can turn the handle of the desk and send the paper, and the next day you can take notes on a clean piece of paper with a new feeling. Since there is no need to take out the memo pad, it is easier to take notes, and it is more likely that even if it was not recorded before, it will be saved as "data". The total length of the paper rolled as a paper roll is 1,100 yards (about 1 km), so even if you keep turning the handle every day, you can store data for about 650 days.


But why did Camara make "ANALOG MEMORY DESK"? Camara said on his website:

"There are hundreds of trivial events around us every year, or even weekly, that we don't even want to remember. The accumulation of these small events is new to our lives. Is it possible to create a story? "

Camara has published the blueprint for "ANALOG MEMORY DESK" on the Web. If you make "ANALOG MEMORY DESK" based on this blueprint and keep a record of 650 days, you may find the answer to Mr. Camara's question.


And the answer may be the same as the answer to the question, "Can" big data "generated by IoT etc. produce something?" That may not be the case, but for the time being, it would be an interesting experience to take a record of 650 days and read it back later.