elearnspace

CBC explores information overload (the link is on the bottom half of the page), featuring a few representatives from the newly formed Information Overload Research Group and an author exploring the challenges of distraction. Most of the conversation is fairly common sense – i.e. manage email, each email we send is an interruption, seeing our personal role in impacting the work of others. An interesting point: people lose up to 28% of their work time do to interruptions (and the recovery time associated with interruptions). Of course bloggers also get blamed for part of the information deluge. One speaker emphasized more use of technology to solve the problem. I think this is partly right – though as the host says, technology created this overload, how will more technology solve it? The challenge is largely social, however. I’ve found that I need to accept information as a flow, knowing that I’ll never encounter it all. At any point, I’m missing a good chunk of what I need to know as the world moves along while I eat, sleep, or whatever. Accepting the perpetual state of not-knowing is an important start.