Information Overload

To begin with, I missed the lecture on Information Overload due to illness but I think I could have really benefitted from it! This is a typical view of my desktop during semester:



And when every internet browser window can have multiple tabs the amount of information you can be accessing at any one time is enormous.

"Which window was that site I need in?"
"Where did that link open up?"
"Oh, it's been fifteen minutes I better check facebook"
"Now what was I doing again?"
"I have so many articles open I can't tell which is which!"

Now add to this the TV on in the background or music playing and it's not the most productive environment.



My favourites list, of sites I've found interesting that I want to come back to, is so long that I can never find what I'm looking for. Add to this my penchant for hoarding and inability to cull anything.



When there is such a wealth of information at your fingertips efficiency becomes essential. A streamlined approach to accessing information is the key. Students need to learn how to deal with this information overload to effectively navigate the digital world. So in order to learn more about this I decided to investigate RSS feeds. I had seen these before so thought I kind of understood them, and I had used them in a simplified way through iGoogle but I didn't really get it until I wathched this CommonCraft video and began to set up my own Google Reader account.





It turns out half the work was done for me as I already had a google account with my hotmail email address which was somehow already linked to my blog. And now suddenly I have a new toolbar; I think Google is taking over my life or at least my internet. As useful as this tool is I can see why Lee Lefever warns in the video about the addictiveness of it. I fear that I am going to try and pool so much information in one place that I become overwhelmed again. I get overwhelmed when I haven't checked Twitter for a week and suddenly I am behind the times. Imagine if I don't check Google Reader very often and suddenly there is a whole lot of information to scroll through? I think ultimately I need to learn the art of moderation.

On the other hand, I am quite the fan of this 'Read Later' bookmark from Instapaper which operates under a similar principle in that it stores articles of interest for later reading. I think this will be a great benefit to me as when researching for assignments I get very easily sidetracked by slightly related interesting articles and saving them for later in one place rather than adding them to my extensive favourites list seems like a very beneficial tool. I can see this being a worthwhile tool for other students also.