By Mary Ellen Bates Guest Writer, August 21, 2002
In case you were in any doubt that we're inundated with data, consider the study conducted in 2000 by the School of Information Management and Systems of the University of California, Berkeley. "How Much Information" found that we produce 1.5 billion gigabytes of content a year. And a delightful article from Inc. magazine claims that people spend 150 hours a year looking for lost information and that 45% of people watch TV and use PCs simultaneously. No wonder we're overwhelmed!
Searchers can fight information overload in two ways -- at the source and with tools and techniques that cut down on the amount of information we wade through.
Stemming The Flood
We're information junkies -- that's why you're reading SearchDay -- but that doesn't mean that we have to contribute to data glut.
Tools to Cut Back Information Overgrowth
Bottom line? It's easy to be the most efficient "information hauler." It's harder to lead by example and demonstrate that even self-avowed information junkie can actually serve as the first defense against information overload -- for both yourself and others.
Mary Ellen Bates is the principal of Bates Information Services http://www.batesinfo.com/, a research and consulting business based in Washington, DC. Her email address is mbates@BatesInfo.com.
How Much Information
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/
This study is an attempt to measure how much information is produced in the world each year. U.C. Berkeley researchers Peter Lyman and Hal R. Varian look at several media and estimate yearly production, accumulated stock, rates of growth, and other variables of interest.
"Data Data"
Inc. magazine, Jan. 1, 1999
http://www.inc.com/magazine/19990101/715.html
How much time people waste looking for lost information, how fast the World Wide Web is growing, and other statistics from the front lines of the info glut.
NOTE: Article links often change. In case of a bad link, use the publication's search facility, which most have, and search for the headline.
