Comments on: The Information Overload Misconception http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/ Internet Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Blogger Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:47:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9715 Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:16:09 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9715 @Huub: that is a beautiful story! @Hugo: thanks for the long and insightful comment. Deserves a blog post of its own. @Huub: that is a beautiful story!
@Hugo: thanks for the long and insightful comment. Deserves a blog post of its own.

]]> By: Huub Koch http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9714 Huub Koch Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:28:57 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9714 I like the idea of stuff fading away... beautifull human interaction and interface idea. Bytheway I remember an artist friend from my vocal singing teacher when I was about 10 in 1966. He told me an amazing story at that time: He did not listen to the radio, had no tv, never read newspapers and got updated with the real important news at the grocery store at the corner of the street where he bought his piece of Sunlight soap with which he cleaned the dishes, bathed himself and did his laundry. Lifehacking avant la lettre! I like the idea of stuff fading away… beautifull human interaction and interface idea. Bytheway I remember an artist friend from my vocal singing teacher when I was about 10 in 1966. He told me an amazing story at that time: He did not listen to the radio, had no tv, never read newspapers and got updated with the real important news at the grocery store at the corner of the street where he bought his piece of Sunlight soap with which he cleaned the dishes, bathed himself and did his laundry. Lifehacking avant la lettre!

]]> By: Hugo http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9711 Hugo Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:07:18 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9711 I totally agree on the pile of junk: you need random input to brake free of the existing patterns and create original solutions to problems. The point you make on ‘information overload’ might be a bit too simplistic. There seems to be different levels of information. Information has a certain ‘density’, like a cloud of solar gaz. The humming of a nightingale is a very specific piece of information. The humming of ten different birds would drive the farmer nuts (‘information overload’). Luckily, the human brain invented something incredible valuable: concepts. So the farmer processes the sounds as ‘bird sounds’ (concept) and at a higher level his journey through the fields is perceived as ‘sounds of nature’ (higher concept). Humans can process in split seconds tons of information through use of these concepts. The higher the concept, the more abstract the ‘information’ becomes, i.e. the more dense. So we do handle more information through the use of abstract concepts. But the more abstract the concepts become, the more ‘detached’ we become of the reality of the information. In other words, we lose the understanding between information and what it stands for. There is no information overload. Only a sense of loss. The rss, unread e-mail and other clutter has not so much to do with information. It’s due to the ‘fragmentation of life’. We tend to do more things at once (e-mailing, making phone call, watch video, listen to radio). We spread our attention. We spread our identity (you no longer belong to a single group of people, instead you create an identity basket of different subgroups). Identity is like an mp3 you can only download through multiple peer-to-peer users. So is information. I totally agree on the pile of junk: you need random input to brake free of the existing patterns and create original solutions to problems.

The point you make on ‘information overload’ might be a bit too simplistic. There seems to be different levels of information. Information has a certain ‘density’, like a cloud of solar gaz. The humming of a nightingale is a very specific piece of information. The humming of ten different birds would drive the farmer nuts (‘information overload’). Luckily, the human brain invented something incredible valuable: concepts. So the farmer processes the sounds as ‘bird sounds’ (concept) and at a higher level his journey through the fields is perceived as ‘sounds of nature’ (higher concept). Humans can process in split seconds tons of information through use of these concepts. The higher the concept, the more abstract the ‘information’ becomes, i.e. the more dense. So we do handle more information through the use of abstract concepts. But the more abstract the concepts become, the more ‘detached’ we become of the reality of the information. In other words, we lose the understanding between information and what it stands for. There is no information overload. Only a sense of loss.

The rss, unread e-mail and other clutter has not so much to do with information. It’s due to the ‘fragmentation of life’. We tend to do more things at once (e-mailing, making phone call, watch video, listen to radio). We spread our attention. We spread our identity (you no longer belong to a single group of people, instead you create an identity basket of different subgroups). Identity is like an mp3 you can only download through multiple peer-to-peer users. So is information.

]]> By: Henry Lewkowicz http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9709 Henry Lewkowicz Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:22:57 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9709 Hi Boris, I agree with your comment "Information Overload is not a problem". The fact that Google brings a huge list of links to follow can be an advantage...but only if you have some tools that will help to rapidly summarize the essential content. I'm inovolved in developing such a tool. Context Organizer summarizes web pages and Google search results giving the user an instant overview of the key ideas. If you were interested to learn more please contact me or better download Context Organizer from Context Discovery and try it out. (http://wwww.contextdiscovery.com). Any comments will be greatly appreciated. Best regards, Henry Hi Boris,
I agree with your comment “Information Overload is not a problem”. The fact that Google brings a huge list of links to follow can be an advantage…but only if you have some tools that will help to rapidly summarize the essential content.

I’m inovolved in developing such a tool. Context Organizer summarizes web pages and Google search results giving the user an instant overview of the key ideas.

If you were interested to learn more please contact me or better download Context Organizer from Context Discovery and try it out. (http://wwww.contextdiscovery.com). Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Henry

]]> By: Joop http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9708 Joop Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:12:17 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9708 The computer helps and reveals the information absorbed, your article made me remember the five criteria that one could use to look at his data; 1. The recipient. The data has to get to the right person; 2. Time of arrival. It has to get there in a specific timeframe; 3. Authority of/Trust in the originating source; 4. The effort it takes to absorb the information; 5. The ‘resolution’ of the information. source: http://wafel.net/2007/10/19/on-the-information-overload-myth/ The computer helps and reveals the information absorbed, your article made me remember the five criteria that one could use to look at his data;

1. The recipient. The data has to get to the right person;
2. Time of arrival. It has to get there in a specific timeframe;
3. Authority of/Trust in the originating source;
4. The effort it takes to absorb the information;
5. The ‘resolution’ of the information.
source: http://wafel.net/2007/10/19/on.....load-myth/

]]> By: Maurits Fondse http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9706 Maurits Fondse Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:34:18 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9706 Interesting article! Interesting article!

]]> By: erwin blom http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9705 erwin blom Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:51:01 +0000 http://bomega.com/2007/11/14/the-information-overload-misconception/#comment-9705 Good story! Good story!

]]>