Gareth McMurchy

Each day, the world produces an astonishing 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily through our online activities. Whether this is sending an email, listening to music, or even liking a post, each of us contributes to this vast accumulation of information. Our reliance on cloud storage, and the ethereal nature of the internet makes this data almost invisible, and seemingly limitless. This state of affairs means that much of the data we produce is almost entirely in the hands of ‘Big Tech’ companies.

Alongside this, the ‘digital dark age’ is a persistent issue. Obsolescence and difficulties with digital preservation is leading to a future in which there will be limited or no access to the knowledge and information that has been created during the 21st Century.

“Terminal” seeks to confront this paradigm. As our consumption and production of data inevitably increases, this project imagines a plausible future where personal storage drives with vast capacities are widely available. Ownership is returned to the individual, and through an interactive device the choice about whether to keep or delete data can be made at a personal level.

By shifting the responsibility of curation and preservation to individuals, it is hoped that more information can be retained for future generations to access - whether we decide to archive all of our personal history, or only parts of it.