Information overload

I’m pretty sure I.O.S. (information overload syndrome) is something that we have all shared at one point or another. (If you have time to waste here is a funny video about ‘I.O.S.’ in the business world)
I know I definitely have had many, many episodes of feeling overwhelmed by all the websites and articles I have open from multiple sources, especially when doing literature review assignments. (Shamefully, I used to print every article out, sort through them and categorise them accordingly).

In talking about dealing with information overload in class, one great tool that caught my attention was the social bookmarking tool called ‘Delicious’. See a youtube video on how it works and how to use it in the previous post below. It’s a great way to store and index your results and to discover others’ related webpages also. Outside of academic searches for university-work purposes, I don’t think I experience a lot of information overload. Really simple syndication (RSS) is something that I do actually utilise already.

On my laptop desktop I have an RSS gadget that feeds me headlines from MSNBC News. Similarly, now that I am on twitter (thanks to Mark’s invitation to join and follow him), I have chosen to follow other news sources. I have RSS feeds from CNN, The New York Times, etc. directly to my twitter account, which I can access on my smartphone. Surprisingly, (or perhaps unsurprisingly) I don’t feel the obligation to read every new feed or click on every link. The key is definitely finding balance in getting just the right amount of information that I need.