Information Overload

April 18, 2006 By

by: bubba murarka

During the day I work on new features for Windows Live.  I used to work on the toolbar and windows desktop search which resulted in an interest around information retrieval.  Lately I've been thinking about information management and more loosely the proactive side of desktop search.  I'm pretty sure a lot of really smart people have been thinking about this – Susan Dumais, Ed Cutrell, and Eric Horvitz jump to mind (also some of my favorite people in Research), but I'm sure they are only the tip of the iceberg. 

A brief conversation occurred over the comments today and I wanted to think and write some more about it.  It also came up in another conversation with Robert. So, here we are. 

I used to love finding new information.  I got a buzz out of being the first to know about new things, try them out, and tell my friends about them.  This hasn't really changed, but I've found that the amount of time I have to do so has shrunk.  Luckily there are a ton of people out there trying things, blogging about them, and people sharing links to other's exploits. 

Soon enough though, I found I had to make choices about trying vs. reading about things.  And then it morphed into doing one vs. spending time doing my job, hanging out with friends, and keeping up with life (just got another few late fees). 

Like most fluid decisions with no right or wrong I've found myself to be a swinging pendulum.  Sometimes I get engrossed and spend hours trying or reading about new things and others I find myself avoiding new information completely.  I was living "rational ignorance" and iteratively learning how to tweak my experience just like Billy said today. 

More recently I've tried two ways dealing with info overload.  Ones I never thought I'd try. 

The first was un-subscribing from almost all e-newsletters, internal microsoft distribution lists, and setting up very strict email rules that filter away other sources of bulk mail.   I went from a lot of mail, to very little mail.  This was cool because I found myself walking around my office more, having more face to face conversations and just generally connecting with people at a deeper level.  On the flip side, I was the last to know about things like the new google calendar launch.  But, I still found out about it relatively quickly - the day it launched.  The interesting thing was that I my "virtual" relationships actually got better because I had (made?) the time to really engage people that weren't geographically co-located with me. 

The other method was to stop using an rss reader.  I know this is like blasphemy here on Scoble's blog and I'm kind of scared to admit it.  My logic was that I my brain would only remember a handful of sites and thus regulate how much time I spent absorbing information.  The weird thing is that it actually works pretty much like un-subscribing from bulk email sources.  The really important stuff found its way to me anyway (like bootcamp) and I spent more time out in the world. 

Going out and reading about new stuff is invigorating.  I mean, how else would I find out about the new G35's hard drive based audio system or an answer from dare to my random question on david sifry's blog growth post. 

Hanging out here, on Scoble's blog, has reminded me that there is no one answer to this.  Scoble's is trying something different and so are others.  I will too because of this week.

Filed Under: 1
  • http://szokelizer.blogsome.com/ Szokelizer

    Completely Offtopic: Is the rumor true, that there will be a PDC in 2006? There has been some remark about this @ PDC 2005 too.

  • http://szokelizer.blogsome.com Szokelizer

    Completely Offtopic: Is the rumor true, that there will be a PDC in 2006? There has been some remark about this @ PDC 2005 too.

  • http://makemeswitch.blogspot.com/ Stefan Constantinescu

    I think that the RSS Reader just hasn’t evolved to a point of convenience.

    You stopped using an RSS reader, and I think I know why. When you think about all the feeds you have there is going to be some insane amounts of overlap. Apple boot camp would have been something every single person on your blogroll would have mentioned.

    I’ve been telling everyone since tech.memeorandum opened that we need that engine to be applied to an RSS reader.

    River of news was the first step in evolution; it made reading rss more natural since a human seeing 456 new pieces of news would have a mental breakdown. Letting one easily scroll thru all that content was cake.

    Now we need the second evolution in RSS readers. A relational tool that can group things together. Similar to what Google news does.

    You do a search on “State of the union 2006” for example and there is one result, but it lists many many sources all talking about. Letting the user talk choose who he wants to read it from. Let’s be honest we all prefer some sources over others, it’s only human.

    You can rely only on other people telling you news, or keeping a handful of sites in memory, but I like reading everyone’s thoughts.

    When it comes to news in the blogosphere the one thing that separates it from real news is that little hint of personal opinion. No one just posts information; they have opinions that go along with it. While I don’t agree with this, again it’s only natural because when you’re the editor of your own blog, you choose what is and isn’t content. You don’t have a boss to look up to, or face charges of slander.

    Everyone has their different way of getting stories. RSS needs to evolve again is all I’m saying.

  • http://makemeswitch.blogspot.com Stefan Constantinescu

    I think that the RSS Reader just hasn’t evolved to a point of convenience.

    You stopped using an RSS reader, and I think I know why. When you think about all the feeds you have there is going to be some insane amounts of overlap. Apple boot camp would have been something every single person on your blogroll would have mentioned.

    I’ve been telling everyone since tech.memeorandum opened that we need that engine to be applied to an RSS reader.

    River of news was the first step in evolution; it made reading rss more natural since a human seeing 456 new pieces of news would have a mental breakdown. Letting one easily scroll thru all that content was cake.

    Now we need the second evolution in RSS readers. A relational tool that can group things together. Similar to what Google news does.

    You do a search on “State of the union 2006” for example and there is one result, but it lists many many sources all talking about. Letting the user talk choose who he wants to read it from. Let’s be honest we all prefer some sources over others, it’s only human.

    You can rely only on other people telling you news, or keeping a handful of sites in memory, but I like reading everyone’s thoughts.

    When it comes to news in the blogosphere the one thing that separates it from real news is that little hint of personal opinion. No one just posts information; they have opinions that go along with it. While I don’t agree with this, again it’s only natural because when you’re the editor of your own blog, you choose what is and isn’t content. You don’t have a boss to look up to, or face charges of slander.

    Everyone has their different way of getting stories. RSS needs to evolve again is all I’m saying.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Szokelizer: no, those rumors are not true.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Robert Scoble

    Szokelizer: no, those rumors are not true.

  • http://delip.wordpress.com/ delip

    Great post Bubba and Great comments Stefan. Information Overload is certainly one of the key problems facing most Netizens today.

    As a matter of fact these are some of the reasons why I have been evading blogging and an RSS Reader so far. Blogosphere today seems to be heavily in support of links (as promoted by most of the Meme trackers like Technorati or Memeorandum etc.,.How many of your friends can you actually blog roll and how many of their feeds can you actually subscribe to? Do you subscribe to feeds from friends or some authoritative sources (like Scobleizer?)?

    I have touched up on these topics at a high level in couple of my posts at the blog I managed to set up recently (www.delipandra.com). I will post more thoughts over the next few days. As a matter of fact at my new start up Minekey (www.minekey.com), we are working hard to solve this Information Overload problem. We will be launching in the next couple of months. Stay tuned.

  • http://delip.wordpress.com/ delip

    Great post Bubba and Great comments Stefan. Information Overload is certainly one of the key problems facing most Netizens today.

    As a matter of fact these are some of the reasons why I have been evading blogging and an RSS Reader so far. Blogosphere today seems to be heavily in support of links (as promoted by most of the Meme trackers like Technorati or Memeorandum etc.,.How many of your friends can you actually blog roll and how many of their feeds can you actually subscribe to? Do you subscribe to feeds from friends or some authoritative sources (like Scobleizer?)?

    I have touched up on these topics at a high level in couple of my posts at the blog I managed to set up recently (www.delipandra.com). I will post more thoughts over the next few days. As a matter of fact at my new start up Minekey (www.minekey.com), we are working hard to solve this Information Overload problem. We will be launching in the next couple of months. Stay tuned.

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  • Dave Lane

    The internal MS D/Ls will crush you – Cool Stuff and their ilk can waste an entire month!

    I agree, Robert – the chaff will fall off and the good kernels seem to find their way to you even without being on the right alias or having a news scavenger find things for you.

  • Dave Lane

    The internal MS D/Ls will crush you – Cool Stuff and their ilk can waste an entire month!

    I agree, Robert – the chaff will fall off and the good kernels seem to find their way to you even without being on the right alias or having a news scavenger find things for you.

  • J. Random Poster

    So, Infiniti will sell me a car with a built-in HDD for audio storage, that can’t connect to an iPod, or play the songs I’ve bought from the iTMS?

    Am I supposed to take all my CDs to the car and rip them again?

    WTF are they thinking?

  • J. Random Poster

    So, Infiniti will sell me a car with a built-in HDD for audio storage, that can’t connect to an iPod, or play the songs I’ve bought from the iTMS?

    Am I supposed to take all my CDs to the car and rip them again?

    WTF are they thinking?

  • CC

    Why to I get this when I try to get to the Live Toolbar:
    “Hmm, I think you have a bad URL. Can you go back and check it and try again? “?

    Is it U.S. only?

  • CC

    Why to I get this when I try to get to the Live Toolbar:
    “Hmm, I think you have a bad URL. Can you go back and check it and try again? “?

    Is it U.S. only?

  • Jason

    I think you are making a wise decision. I copied this from a post I read awhile back at Paper Notes In A Digital World:

    “And the digital world….there’s just sooo much. We’ve all heard the worn-out phrase, “information overload,” a thousand times. However, how else do you describe this feeling of a crush of websites, blogs, newspapers online, magazines online, databases, search engines, wiki this and wiki that? Every day it seems there are new sites for listmaking, calendering, email, chat, template-looking sites that all search, manipulate and offer information in hundreds of different ways. Web 2.0 is leaving me web weary.”

    I feel this myself, way too often. I recently made much the same decision you have. I decided the real world is waiting.

  • Jason

    I think you are making a wise decision. I copied this from a post I read awhile back at Paper Notes In A Digital World:

    “And the digital world….there’s just sooo much. We’ve all heard the worn-out phrase, “information overload,” a thousand times. However, how else do you describe this feeling of a crush of websites, blogs, newspapers online, magazines online, databases, search engines, wiki this and wiki that? Every day it seems there are new sites for listmaking, calendering, email, chat, template-looking sites that all search, manipulate and offer information in hundreds of different ways. Web 2.0 is leaving me web weary.”

    I feel this myself, way too often. I recently made much the same decision you have. I decided the real world is waiting.

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  • http://polizeros.com/ Bob Morris

    I stopped using a RSS reader a while back, and instead use the bookmarks sidebar in Firefox. I can check dozens of sites quickly that way – at least as fast as an RSS reader can – plus get the look and feel of the site too.

    Also, some sites don’t have the full feed in the RSS, and, as mentioned, RSS readers generally change the look and feel of the post, which then isn’t the same as actually being there.

  • http://bobmorris.wordpress.com/ bobmorris

    I stopped using a RSS reader a while back, and instead use the bookmarks sidebar in Firefox. I can check dozens of sites quickly that way – at least as fast as an RSS reader can – plus get the look and feel of the site too.

    Also, some sites don’t have the full feed in the RSS, and, as mentioned, RSS readers generally change the look and feel of the post, which then isn’t the same as actually being there.

  • Devil’s Advocate

    J. Random – totally know what you mean. I already have all my music on a hard drive that goes everywhere I do. How do I get my music to play on that car? I’m not going back to the attic for the original disks unless a major catastrophe occurs.

  • Devil’s Advocate

    J. Random – totally know what you mean. I already have all my music on a hard drive that goes everywhere I do. How do I get my music to play on that car? I’m not going back to the attic for the original disks unless a major catastrophe occurs.

  • http://www.brandonlive.com/ Brandon Paddock

    That hard drive thing reminds me of the integrated hard drive that Audi/VW have offered for a long time now (I think it’s called the “PhatBox” or something).

  • http://www.brandonlive.com Brandon Paddock

    That hard drive thing reminds me of the integrated hard drive that Audi/VW have offered for a long time now (I think it’s called the “PhatBox” or something).

  • http://jwebnet.net/ Joseph Becher

    “The first was un-subscribing from almost all e-newsletters, internal microsoft distribution lists, and setting up very strict email rules that filter away other sources of bulk mail. ”

    That’s something I really should try. It’s so hard to decide what to keep track of, and I’m always afraid of missing something, but the information volume is building up. Thanks for the reminder.

  • http://jwebnet.net Joseph Becher

    “The first was un-subscribing from almost all e-newsletters, internal microsoft distribution lists, and setting up very strict email rules that filter away other sources of bulk mail. ”

    That’s something I really should try. It’s so hard to decide what to keep track of, and I’m always afraid of missing something, but the information volume is building up. Thanks for the reminder.

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