The term digital exhaust or exhaust data has several meanings but can be defined through the following:

• The output of human beings using the internet.
• The "aggregation of [consumer] data through the digitization of processes and activities" in the commercial sector which generates metadata supporting corporate profit generation.
• The production of vast amounts of information in binary code, represented as words, texts, videos, photos and other mediums, expressed on computers and websites, and distributed across the internet.
• The individual representation of a person using the aggregate of their past interactions on the internet.

The definition combines two terms which hold similar characteristics. The term digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

 primarily refers to computers and electronic mediums. Exhaust

Exhaust gas

Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline/petrol, diesel fuel, fuel oil or coal. According to the type of engine, it is discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe, flue gas stack or propelling nozzle.It often disperses...

, the gaseous by product of combustion, is largely considered waste. However, with the invention of renewable sources of energy such as hydrogen fuel cells, the term exhaust has been expanded to hold a more positive connotation.



The combination of the terms captures the idea that an electronic medium can produce its own exhaust system. The output is not air, gas, or pollutants but instead photos, videos, blogs, and knowledge.

See also

• Digital
  Digital
  A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
  
  
• Exhaust system
  Exhaust system
  An exhaust system is usually tubing used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes...
  
  
• Digital art
  Digital art
  Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
  
  
• Digital control
  Digital control
  Digital control is a branch of control theory that uses digital computers to act as system controllers.Depending on the requirements, a digital control system can take the form of a microcontroller to an ASIC to a standard desktop computer....
  
  
• Digital culture
• Digital electronics
• Digital native
  Digital native
  A digital native is a person who was born during or after the general introduction of digital technology, and through interacting with digital technology from an early age, has a greater understanding of its concepts...
  
  
• Digital physics
  Digital physics
  In physics and cosmology, digital physics is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the premise that the universe is, at heart, describable by information, and is therefore computable...
  
  
• Digital Revolution
  Digital Revolution
  The Digital Revolution is the change from analog mechanical and electronic technology to digital technology that has taken place since c. 1980 and continues to the present day. Implicitly, the term also refers to the sweeping changes brought about by digital computing and communication technology...
  
  
• Digital signal
  Digital signal
  A digital signal is a physical signal that is a representation of a sequence of discrete values , for example of an arbitrary bit stream, or of a digitized analog signal...
  
  

Digital

The definition of this term is pulled from the meaning of the word digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

:

• Expressed in numerical form, especially for use by a computer.
• Digital information is stored using a series of ones and zeros. Computers are digital machines because they can only read information as on or off — 1 or 0. This method of computation, also known as the binary system, may seem rather simplistic, but can be used to represent incredible amounts of data.
• Traditionally, digital means the use of numbers and the term comes from digit, or finger. Today, digital is synonymous with computer.

Exhaust

The definition of this term is pulled from the meaning of the word exhaust:

• To let out or draw off.
• Pertaining to steam, air, gas, etc., that is released from the cylinder of an engine after having performed its work.
• to draw off or let out completely, as from a container

Insight into a Person

Often our interactions on the internet can lead others to have a greater understanding of us as people. Jerry Michalski has come to think of it in terms of "peripheral vision":

Jerry Michalski, a consultant, calls the mini-feed a “data exhaust” that gives Facebook users “better peripheral vision” into the lives of people they know only casually.