The mighty 'wikipedia' provided the following quote: ' "Information overload" is a term coined by Alvin Toffler which refers to an excess amount of information being provided, making processing and absorbing tasks very difficult for the individual because sometimes we cannot see the validity behind the information.'
RSS is an attempt to make sense of some of the vast, incomprehensible amount of information (and dross) that is the internet. It is an effective tool for putting the flow of information onto one page. However I find that I am duplicating where all this information is ending up and Google reader is just another page I have to go to.
For example, on my blog I manually add a link to 'blogs I follow". I can also hit the ' follow button' on blogs read which sends me a feed showing updates on my blog dashboard 'reading list'(complete with date of last update if I choose that option). This tends to make me think a separate RSS page a bit redundant for blogs.
For news information I tend to have a few sites that I trust as news providers and these are either favourites or a gadget on my iGoogle homepage, making me less likely to use RSS for that.
There are a HUGE number of sharing and feed options around (just click on the orange share button on any CEO wiki page and you will see options ranging from twitter, stumbleupon, digg to outlandish names like plurk, posterious and propeller!!!!)...
So it's back to managing 'information overload' by being VERY SELECTIVE, knowing what's around and my best tip of all -
use the option that gives you the most information for the fewest passwords
- and you can quote me on that!
Hi Hillary, first let me say congratulations on the wonderful blog you have created so far...I'm glad you have enjoyed your work so far. I was at a conference last week and the term 'infowhelmed' was used...I think this means the same as information overload. I hope you find a way to ease your info-overload!
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your blogs. Keep up the good work.
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