Information Super-Overload: Is information overload killing productivity?

Welcome to a new series of Monday posts for the GAL blog called "Information Super-Overload" ("ISO Monday").   Every Monday we will discuss the increased problems of 'too much information" and strategies for dealing with the increased distraction of RSS feeds, twitter updates, Facebook friend requests, blog posts, email and other information tools.  Could it be that technology will put us out of business? Are the techno-detractors correct when they say that information overload is making the work-place less productive? As noted by lifehacker,

Over the few years this site's been in existence, studies have shown that email kills concentration more than smoking pot does, that you've got 11 minutes before the next interruption ... that no one understands the intended tone of your email, that email overload costs the American economy more than $700 billion a year, and that multitasking kills your ability to focus and get things done.

To start things off, I want to get you thinking about the problem of information overload and the challenges it creates for everyone riding the information super-highway.  Thanks to www.managingio.com for this handy list of info and resources devoted to the problem of IO. I can't help but note that this list is yet another example of Information Overload! Watch again next week for the next installment of ISO Monday.

Blogs/ Websites with focus on information overload

• ManagingIO.com ;-)
• A Feed is Born - RSS as the redeemer of humanity from IO? Blog about RSS, webfeeds and information overload
• Communication Overload - Another blog devoted to IO  

 Articles worth reading 

• NY times article pointing to the $650 billion cost estimate of information overload published by a

  US

  research firm. The estimate might be still too low though.

• Information onslaught - IO is even bad for your health. 
• Plus, it makes you stupid: Emails ‘pose threat to IQ’ and Why texting harms your IQ
• Sometimes it also turns nasty: Being Held Hostage by Information Overload
• But not enough with that, it might even kill you: Information Overload Is Killing You and Your Productivity
• If we didn’t do it before: Informing ourselves to death - Well-written article on the subject by Neil Postman
• Information overload - Nice article on IO by William Van Winkle
• Data smog: newest culprit in brain drain - Psychologists also say IO is bad. Now if that’s no proof ;-)
• Combating Information Overload - Includes a history section on IO. How it all started…
• The Tyranny of Email - Correct, it’s a pain. Or is it? Tyranny revisted
• Too much information? - Yes, indeed. Looks at it from a marketing perspective.
• Internet suffering from information overload - So not only the users but the internet itself. Includes some good comments on how information will be structured in the future (directories vs. tagging)

 Studies and papers on IO 

• How much information? - Study that attempts to estimate how much new information is created each year
• IO’s impact - Report on the effects of information overload in the

  UK

  and worldwide  

• Desperately seeking: Helping hands and human touch - Looking at potential solutions to IO with a focus on agent-like applications, improvements in the information chain and information brokering
• The role of contextual clues in the creation of information overload (pdf) - Study focuses on IO due to email
• Information Overload, Retrieval Strategies and Internet User Empowerment (pdf) - Paper on information overload and search engines
• A Framework for Information Overload Research in Organizations (pdf) - How to analyze IO in organisations. Rather theoretical…

 Practical tips on how to deal with IO 

• Lifehack.org - Popular blog with tips on how to increase productivity (e.g. check out “Dealing with information overload”)
• Putthingsoff - Blog on productivity with a cute cat
• Managing Information - A practical guide on how to focus on the information that is really required
• Information Overload: The Blogger’s Worst Enemy and 8 Ways to Avoid It - Tips for Bloggers on how to deal with IO
• How to reduce information overload - Useful tips
• Eight steps to thriving on information overload - As the title says…
• Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload - Also have a look at Tips for Overcoming Email Overload
• Handling Information Overload for Lawyers - They are different, that’s why they need special care ;-)
• 21 Tips to deal with information overload - Useful tips!
• Other blogs on productivity: Productivity501 and Simple Productivity Blog

 Other resources

• Information Overload Newsletter - Newsletter with articles on information overload, however many articles on other subjects too
• Change and Information Overload - Article on the negative effects of information overload (published on Feb. 19^th 1999, but still true…)
• Article on Softpanorama.org - Including some interesting statistics on the subject (although a little outdated)
• Fighting information overload - Article on knowledge management software (a little outdated too, 2001…)
• http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/zeldes/index.html - our article summarizing the impacts and costs of IO in a large organization.