Monthly Archive for July, 2011

I have talked before about having to declare RSS bankruptcy. That Tech Chick, Jessica Benton, just wrote:

The main reason I did not read them was because every time I opened my reader there were over 1000 unread articles sitting there. The visual number simply made me immediately shut my reader, only to not read any of the blogs I really wanted to.

Not only clearly complaining that she was overloaded, but that it was emotional. She didn’t wipe out all her RSS feeds, but came pretty close to bankruptcy:

Before I left LA I cleaned my reader out. I removed over 100 blogs from my RSS reader. [...] Now I feel lighter, and when I open my reader I have a few articles to read and process. These blogs are the most important to me.

I feel so badly for Jessica. I want her to be able to read more blogs in the hour a day she has, not fewer.

Over in the Economist’s Schumpeter Blog, there’s an article on How to Cope with Data Overload. After a wonderful summary of some of the problems, comes an overly simplified set of possible solutions:

What can be done about information overload? One answer is technological: rely on the people who created the fog to invent filters that will clean it up. Xerox promises to restore “information sanity” by developing better filtering and managing devices.  [...] A second answer involves willpower. Ration your intake. Turn off your mobile phone and internet from time to time.

We’ve talked about filters and how they aren’t enough before. And “ration your intake”? Seriously? That’s a worse answer than telling a teenager to abstain from sex and “just think pure thoughts”. Overloaded folks need a way to consume more, relevant, information in the same or less time. That’s what we need.

In a more Business-to-business take, Luosheng Peng does a guest post on Overload for the PRNewser blog where he writes from the perspective of a PR professional who has to gather and dispense news and information daily. He talks about the need for “enterprise quality” tools for the PR business. He concludes:

Regardless of the tools you select, the future of how you sort, prioritize, and filter information is quickly developing and approaching.

Certainly he’s expressing a need. I just don’t think that it is being clearly met yet. Good news for us. That leaves plenty of room for Bscopes.

Meanwhile, in a post on his blog, Seth Earley claims that information overload isn’t a real problem, it’s a “so-called problem”. He says:

This so-called “information overload” problem will be solved in the same way – by creating lists, classification structures, bibliographies, reference materials and all sorts of dynamic, curated content.

I think that’s naive and overly simplistic at best. That the whole world is a library and all we need are better card catalogs?!

On the other hand, this is a strong idea:

The best web sites have the capability of anticipating what users need and assembling that content dynamically – something we refer to as “content choreography” – the ability to coordinate, weave and present content into new information products and services based on the needs of a diverse set of users all operating on the site at the same time.

At first I wanted to dismiss this. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe he is right about this. Not that each blog or new site will do this. But perhaps “content choreography” could be a new metaphor for what Bscopes is doing about Overload. But the best thing about what Seth is doing is that he is proposing solutions and not just complaining about the problem.

Similarly to the Weather Radar metaphor that Christope Deschamps came up with, this is a good contribution toward solving information overload. So… for his contribution to cutting through the clutter,  we hereby award Seth our second “Antique Receipt Spindle” Award. (For those too young to remember this once widely used organizing device, wikipedia, the font of all knowledge provides this useful article.) Seth, you may feel free to proudly display this award on the desktop or blog of your choice.

Back to thinking and writing code… While I do that, let us know what you think in the comment section below.