Archive for the ‘Information Overload’ Category

His Holiness The Dalai Lama joined the popular microblogging website Twitter yesterday and already has over 13,000 followers. In other social media news, the Vatican has created a YouTube channel, as has UK Parliament, (which is also blogging, on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter), The US House of Representatives and Senate. Know of any other interesting personalities or organizations which have recently joined an online community? Please link to them in the comments!

Update: It has been reported that the Dalai Lama Twitter account was actually started by an impersonator – news which hit Twitter almost immediately after the account was suspended. Although the account has been restored, it no longer claims affiliation with The Office of the Dalai Lama.

Too much information and not enough filters? Check out Mashable’s latest article, Slow Feed Movement: 7 Tools to Filter the RSS Flood, which suggests choosing from seven tools to focus the flow of information. Two which caught my eye were the Best of Friendfeed feature and TweetDeck, an Adobe Air desktop application.

The New York Times looks at current news and media consumption habits in a time of burgeoning information outlets. In light of recent economic and politcal events, many people are finding that they are Overfeeding on Information.

“This explosion of information technology, when combined with an unusual confluence of dramatic — and ongoing — news events, has led many people to conclude that they have given their lives over to a news obsession. They find themselves taking breaks at work every 15 minutes to check the latest updates, and at the end of the day, taking laptops to bed. Then they pad through darkened homes in the predawn to check on the Asian markets.”

via Social Media

Author of Here Comes Everybody, Clay Shirky gave a much discussed keynote at yesterday’s Web 2.0 Expo in NYC titled It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure. In his talk he posits that the problem is not the enormous amount of information which is now available, but that we don’t have proper filters for it. Here’s a link to his PowerPoint presentation and a video of his presentation. And here is more coverage of his keynote:

• Are you suffering from information filter failure? – ZDNet Between the Lines blog
• It’s Not Information Overload; It’s Filter Failure – Internet Evolution

If you missed the Web 2.0 Expo, you can find highlights, videos, and speaker presentation files here.

Sarah Houghton-Jan writes about managing too much information in Being Wired or Being Tired: 10 Ways to Cope with Information Overload published in the latest issue of Ariadne. This is one I’ll be adding to my Web 2.0 course reading lists as she explores the history and effects of info overload, the role of librarians, and gives ten practical techniques for effective management, which are divided into the following headings:

1. General Organisational Techniques
2. Filtering Information Received
3. RSS Overload Techniques
4. Interruptive Technology Overload Techniques
5. Phone Overload Techniques
6. Email Overload Techniques
7. Print Media Overload Techniques
8. Multimedia Overload Techniques
9. Social Network Overload Techniques
10. Time and Stress Management

via Tame the Web

Have you been spending more and more time “doing” and taking less time to just sit and contemplate? If your thinking time is in short supply, you may want to check out this article from BBC News Magazine which offers some helpful suggestions to effectively create some “oases of thought”:

• CHOOSE YOUR MOMENT: No more lunching “al desko”
• CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION: It doesn’t have to be atop a mountain
• HAVE YOUR PROPS TO HAND: Aristotle or Moyles?
• GIVE YOURSELF LESS TO THINK ABOUT: Your mobile has an “off” switch
• HAVE THE DESIRE TO THINK: You can get it if you really want

And if you think you just don’t have time for this, head over to Zen Habits and check out these helpful articles:

• Reclaim Your Time: 20 Great Ways to Find More Free Time
• How NOT to Multitask – Work Simpler and Saner