What I'd like to know is how much the sum of human knowledge has grown in the same time.

As we all know, data isn't useful to us as such; it only becomes so once analysed, and at that point it's information, not data. Back in the 90s, many computer pros used to work in Data Processing, and once our field changed to Information Technology, we often got quite touchy if the old term was used. Now, with the sheer scale of the amount of data being produced, I wonder if we're in danger of forgetting the value of information and and accidentally sliding back to a data processing role. Probably not, but it gets me thinking nonetheless....

Oh, and I think I'll coin the acronym FONBDB as the successor to VLDB, but all things considered I don't think I'll elaborate on its meaning 😉