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INFORMATION OVERLOAD
IEEE Press445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway NJ 08854
IEEE Press Editorial Board 2012John Anderson Editor in Chief
Kenneth Moore Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)
A complete list of titles in the IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Seriesappears at the end of this book
Ramesh AbhariGeorge W ArnoldFlavio CanaveroDmitry Goldgof
Bernhard M HaemmerliDavid JacobsonMary LanzerottiOm P Malik
Saeid NahavandiTariq SamadGeorge Zobrist
INFORMATION OVERLOADAn International Challenge for
Professional Engineers andTechnical Communicators
Edited by
Judith B StrotherFlorida Institute of Technology
Jan M UlijnOpen University of The Netherlands
Zohra FazalFlorida Institute of Technology
Sponsored by IEEE Professional Communication Society
Cover image Volodymyr GrinkoiStockphoto
Copyright 2012 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc Hoboken New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted underSection 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of thePublisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance CenterInc 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 (978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4470 or on the web atwwwcopyrightcom Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 (201) 748-6011fax (201) 748-6008 or online at httpwwwwileycomgopermission
Limit of LiabilityDisclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and author have used their best efforts inpreparing this book they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness ofthe contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for aparticular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materialsThe advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with aprofessional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or anyother commercial damages including but not limited to special incidental consequential or other damages
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support please contactour Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974 outside the United Statesat (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not beavaila ble in electronic formats For more information abo ut Wiley p roducts visit our web site at wwwwileyc om
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Information overload an international challenge to professional engineers and technical communicators [edited by] Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn Zohra Fazal
pages cm ndash (IEEE PCS professional engineering communication series 2)Includes bibliographical referencesISBN 978-1-118-23013-8 (pbk)
1 Information resources management 2 Time management I Strother Judith B II Ulijn J MIII Fazal ZohraT5864I5285 20126584rsquo038ndashdc23
2012004721
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
IEEE Press445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway NJ 08854
IEEE Press Editorial Board 2012John Anderson Editor in Chief
Kenneth Moore Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)
A complete list of titles in the IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Seriesappears at the end of this book
Ramesh AbhariGeorge W ArnoldFlavio CanaveroDmitry Goldgof
Bernhard M HaemmerliDavid JacobsonMary LanzerottiOm P Malik
Saeid NahavandiTariq SamadGeorge Zobrist
INFORMATION OVERLOADAn International Challenge for
Professional Engineers andTechnical Communicators
Edited by
Judith B StrotherFlorida Institute of Technology
Jan M UlijnOpen University of The Netherlands
Zohra FazalFlorida Institute of Technology
Sponsored by IEEE Professional Communication Society
Cover image Volodymyr GrinkoiStockphoto
Copyright 2012 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc Hoboken New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted underSection 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of thePublisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance CenterInc 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 (978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4470 or on the web atwwwcopyrightcom Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 (201) 748-6011fax (201) 748-6008 or online at httpwwwwileycomgopermission
Limit of LiabilityDisclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and author have used their best efforts inpreparing this book they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness ofthe contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for aparticular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materialsThe advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with aprofessional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or anyother commercial damages including but not limited to special incidental consequential or other damages
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support please contactour Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974 outside the United Statesat (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not beavaila ble in electronic formats For more information abo ut Wiley p roducts visit our web site at wwwwileyc om
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Information overload an international challenge to professional engineers and technical communicators [edited by] Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn Zohra Fazal
pages cm ndash (IEEE PCS professional engineering communication series 2)Includes bibliographical referencesISBN 978-1-118-23013-8 (pbk)
1 Information resources management 2 Time management I Strother Judith B II Ulijn J MIII Fazal ZohraT5864I5285 20126584rsquo038ndashdc23
2012004721
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
IEEE Press445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway NJ 08854
IEEE Press Editorial Board 2012John Anderson Editor in Chief
Kenneth Moore Director of IEEE Book and Information Services (BIS)
A complete list of titles in the IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Seriesappears at the end of this book
Ramesh AbhariGeorge W ArnoldFlavio CanaveroDmitry Goldgof
Bernhard M HaemmerliDavid JacobsonMary LanzerottiOm P Malik
Saeid NahavandiTariq SamadGeorge Zobrist
INFORMATION OVERLOADAn International Challenge for
Professional Engineers andTechnical Communicators
Edited by
Judith B StrotherFlorida Institute of Technology
Jan M UlijnOpen University of The Netherlands
Zohra FazalFlorida Institute of Technology
Sponsored by IEEE Professional Communication Society
Cover image Volodymyr GrinkoiStockphoto
Copyright 2012 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc Hoboken New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted underSection 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of thePublisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance CenterInc 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 (978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4470 or on the web atwwwcopyrightcom Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 (201) 748-6011fax (201) 748-6008 or online at httpwwwwileycomgopermission
Limit of LiabilityDisclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and author have used their best efforts inpreparing this book they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness ofthe contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for aparticular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materialsThe advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with aprofessional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or anyother commercial damages including but not limited to special incidental consequential or other damages
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support please contactour Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974 outside the United Statesat (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not beavaila ble in electronic formats For more information abo ut Wiley p roducts visit our web site at wwwwileyc om
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Information overload an international challenge to professional engineers and technical communicators [edited by] Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn Zohra Fazal
pages cm ndash (IEEE PCS professional engineering communication series 2)Includes bibliographical referencesISBN 978-1-118-23013-8 (pbk)
1 Information resources management 2 Time management I Strother Judith B II Ulijn J MIII Fazal ZohraT5864I5285 20126584rsquo038ndashdc23
2012004721
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
INFORMATION OVERLOADAn International Challenge for
Professional Engineers andTechnical Communicators
Edited by
Judith B StrotherFlorida Institute of Technology
Jan M UlijnOpen University of The Netherlands
Zohra FazalFlorida Institute of Technology
Sponsored by IEEE Professional Communication Society
Cover image Volodymyr GrinkoiStockphoto
Copyright 2012 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc Hoboken New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted underSection 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of thePublisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance CenterInc 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 (978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4470 or on the web atwwwcopyrightcom Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 (201) 748-6011fax (201) 748-6008 or online at httpwwwwileycomgopermission
Limit of LiabilityDisclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and author have used their best efforts inpreparing this book they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness ofthe contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for aparticular purpose No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materialsThe advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation You should consult with aprofessional where appropriate Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or anyother commercial damages including but not limited to special incidental consequential or other damages
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support please contactour Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974 outside the United Statesat (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats Some content that appears in print may not beavaila ble in electronic formats For more information abo ut Wiley p roducts visit our web site at wwwwileyc om
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Information overload an international challenge to professional engineers and technical communicators [edited by] Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn Zohra Fazal
pages cm ndash (IEEE PCS professional engineering communication series 2)Includes bibliographical referencesISBN 978-1-118-23013-8 (pbk)
1 Information resources management 2 Time management I Strother Judith B II Ulijn J MIII Fazal ZohraT5864I5285 20126584rsquo038ndashdc23
2012004721
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
Cover image Volodymyr GrinkoiStockphoto
Copyright 2012 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley amp Sons Inc Hoboken New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic mechanical photocopying recording scanning or otherwise except as permitted underSection 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without either the prior written permission of thePublisher or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance CenterInc 222 Rosewood Drive Danvers MA 01923 (978) 750-8400 fax (978) 750-4470 or on the web atwwwcopyrightcom Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the PermissionsDepartment John Wiley amp Sons Inc 111 River Street Hoboken NJ 07030 (201) 748-6011fax (201) 748-6008 or online at httpwwwwileycomgopermission
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Information overload an international challenge to professional engineers and technical communicators [edited by] Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn Zohra Fazal
pages cm ndash (IEEE PCS professional engineering communication series 2)Includes bibliographical referencesISBN 978-1-118-23013-8 (pbk)
1 Information resources management 2 Time management I Strother Judith B II Ulijn J MIII Fazal ZohraT5864I5285 20126584rsquo038ndashdc23
2012004721
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
This book is dedicated to our parentsmdashto the memory of Judy Strotherrsquos parentsThelma and Bailey Banks and her stepmother Grace Alexander Banks
Jan Ulijnrsquos parents Wim and Riek Ulijn-van den Oever and Zohra Fazalrsquos fatherMuradali Fazal and to the honor of her mother Nasseem Fazal
We will be eternally grateful for their many contributionstoward making us who we are today
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
CONTENTS
List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv
List of Figures xvii
List of Tables xix
Foreword xxi
Preface xxvii
Acknowledgments xxix
A Note from the Series Editor xxxi
Contributors xxxiii
About the Editors xxxvii
1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGETO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS 1Judith B Strother Jan M Ulijn and Zohra Fazal
11 Definitions Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 1
111 Definitions of Information Overload 1
112 Causes of Information Overload 2
113 Consequences of Information Overload 3
12 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4
121 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5
122 A SupplierProducerWriter and ClientUserReaderPerspective 5
123 An InternationalIntercultural Perspective 7
124 An Innovation Perspective 7
13 Readers of this Book 7
14 Structure of this Book 8
141 Section I Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8
142 Section II Control and Reduction of InformationOverload 10
References 11
vii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
SECTION I CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD
2 OF TIME MAGAZINE 247 MEDIA AND DATA DELUGETHE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOADTHEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat and David Remund
21 Introduction 16
22 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16
23 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17
24 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21
241 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge(320 BCEndashThirteenth Century) 21
242 The Age of Renaissance (FourteenthndashSeventeenthCentury) and the Printing Press 22
243 The Industrial Revolution (EighteenthndashNineteenthCentury) and Its Information Innovations 23
244 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24
245 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27
246 Data Deluge and Information Overload in theTwenty-First Century Digital Age 28
25 Information Overload Concepts 29
251 Definitions of Information Overload and RelatedConcepts 29
252 The Context of Information Overload 30
253 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31
26 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32
Acknowledgment 33
References 33
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39
3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGEOF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41Paulus Hubert Vossen
31 Introduction 42
32 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43
33 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45
331 Philosophical Perspective Information in Scienceand Technology 45
332 Political Perspective Information in Modern Societyand a Global World 46
333 Economic Perspective Information as a Commodityon the Market 47
viii CONTENTS
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
334 Societal Perspective Information as the Glue BetweenCommunities 48
335 Psychological Perspective Information as a Basisfor Knowing and Acting 49
336 Ecological Perspective Information as a Prerequisitefor Living Creatures 50
34 Conclusion 51
35 A Call for Fundamental Research 52
References 53
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55
Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55
Identifying the Problem 55
Sharing Information 56
Sorting Information 57
Cutting Through the Clutter 57
Life-Saving Software 58
Urban Central Nervous System 58
4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER ENGINEERS AND TECHNICALCOMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FORDIGITAL TRIBES 61Anne Caborn and Cary L Cooper
41 Introduction The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62
42 The Magic of Metaphor 64
43 The Audience The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65
44 Quill to Keyboard The Writer and New Media 66
45 Helping the Reader Techniques for the Information Shaman 68
46 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70
47 Conclusion The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72
References 73
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75
Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76
Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76
A Revolutionary Perspective 77
5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79Jan M Ulijn and Judith B Strother
51 Introduction 80
52 Levels of Culture 81
53 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82
54 High Context Versus Low Context 83
CONTENTS ix
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
55 Internationalization Versus Localization 85
551 Latin America 86
552 Japan 87
553 China 87
56 The Effect of Professional Culture 88
57 Japan and US Discourse Structures 91
58 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92
59 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicatorsand Their Corporations 93
510 Conclusion 95
References 95
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99
6 EFFECT OF COLOR VISUAL FORM AND TEXTUALINFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103Noeuroel T Alton and Alan Manning
61 Introduction 104
62 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106
63 Experiments and Results 111
631 Study One Restaurant Menu Design 112
632 Study Two Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114
633 Study Three Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116
64 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117
65 Conclusion 119
References 121
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123
7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USERDOCUMENTATION 125Prasanna Bidkar
71 Introduction 126
72 Information Overload 126
73 Causes of Information Overload 128
74 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129
741 Information Content 129
742 Channel 130
743 Receiver 131
75 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132
76 The Current Study 133
761 The Survey 133
762 Results and Observations 133
x CONTENTS
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
77 Cost of Information Overload 135
771 Cost Framework 135
772 Scenario 1 Ideal Scenario 136
773 Scenario 2 136
774 Scenario 3 136
775 Scenario 4 136
776 An Example from the Userrsquos Perspective Denim Corp 137
777 An Example from the Producerrsquos Perspective Logistics Corp 137
78 Conclusion 138
References 139
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141
Sources of Information Overload 141
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142
SECTION II CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATIONOVERLOAD EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
8 TAMING THE TERABYTES A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACHTO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147Eduard Hoenkamp
81 Introduction 148
82 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise AboutWhat We Ask for 150
821 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150
822 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151
83 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152
84 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156
841 Case 1 The Basic Level Category 158
842 Case 2 The Complex Nominal 162
843 Case 3 Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165
85 Conclusion 167
Acknowledgments 167
References 168
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORYFOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171
References 173
9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALINGWITH INFORMATIONOVERLOAD AN ENGINEERrsquoS POINT OF VIEW 175Toon Calders George H L Fletcher Faisal Kamiranand Mykola Pechenizkiy
91 Introduction 176
92 Information Overload Challenges and Opportunities 177
CONTENTS xi
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
93 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179
931 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180
932 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181
933 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183
94 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183
95 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187
96 Processing Data Streams 190
97 Summary 190
References 191
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICSFLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195
From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196
Transformative Airspace Architecture 197
Robust Agile and Intelligently Responsive Information-SharingArchitecture 197
Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198
Distributed Decision Making 199
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200
Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201
Automation and Information in the NAS 201
Summary 201
References 202
10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING EXPLORING THEPROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOREDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203Jeanne Mengis and Martin J Eppler
101 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204
102 Causes of Information Overload 206
103 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Qualityof Information and Reduce Information Overload 208
104 Using Visualization in Practice Understanding theKnowingndashDoing Gap 209
105 Methods and Context of the Study 211
1051 Measures 211
1052 Procedure and Analysis 213
106 Indications of the KnowingndashDoing Gap Visuals AreValued but Poorly Used 214
107 Understanding the KnowingndashDoing Gap with TAM 214
108 Discussion 216
109 Conclusion 217
xii CONTENTS
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
1010 Future Research Directions 218
10A1 Appendix 219
References 222
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227
The Challenges of Information Overload 227
Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228
11 DROWNING IN DATA A REVIEW OF INFORMATION OVERLOADWITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OFSTRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231David Remund and Debashis ldquoDebrdquo Aikat
111 Introduction 232
112 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232
113 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234
114 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235
1141 Organizational Implications 235
1142 Employee Implications 237
115 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238
1151 Organizational Strategies 238
1152 Individual Strategies 239
116 Strategic Communication Principles A Viable Solution 240
117 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242
118 Further Research 243
119 Conclusion 243
References 243
PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERSrsquoASSOCIATION 247
Acting as an Information Resource 248
Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248
Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249
A Final Observation 250
References 250
12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANEA REVIEW OF A MANAGERrsquoS STRATEGY TO COPE WITHTHE INFORMATION PARADOX 251Arjen Verhoeff
121 Introduction 252
122 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253
1221 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253
1222 The Control of the External Information Process 254
CONTENTS xiii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
123 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255
1231 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information 257
1232 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy 257
1233 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Informationinto Added Value 257
124 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258
1241 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258
1242 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259
125 Discussion and Conclusion Lessons in Information Strategy 260
1251 Discussion 260
1252 Methodological Grounding 261
1253 Learning Points 261
1254 Applied Innovative Directions 262
1255 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264
1256 General Conclusion 264
References 265
List of References for Boxed Quotations 267
Author Index 269
Subject Index 275
xiv CONTENTS
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
LIST OF PRACTICAL INSIGHTSFROM CORPORATIONS
A2Z Global LLCAlvogenApplied Global Technologies (AGT)The Dutch Employersrsquo Association (AWVN)College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech)Harris CorporationIBMLaboratory for Quality Software (LaQuSo)Limburg Media Group (LMG)Xerox
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 31 A multidisciplinary hierarchical view on human information 46
Figure 41 Online people may be using a subset or refinement of scanning andskimming skills that pose greater or different demands on theauthor 68
Figure 51 Interrelated levels of culture 81
Figure 52 Examples of cultural styles of discourse organization 82
Figure 61 Graph design alternatives tested in study two 108
Figure 62 Samples of restaurant and Web page menus 110
Figure 63 Menu design alternatives tested 112
Figure 64 Effects of added contrast and decorative features(action and emotion information) on viewer preference 113
Figure 65 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 115
Figure 66 Effects of added contrast and color features (action andemotion information) on response accuracy 116
Figure 67 Excessive divisions in color coding 119
Figure 68 Limited but intelligible divisions in color coding 120
Figure 71 Preferred information choices 134
Figure 72 Information choice trend 134
Figure 81 Query elaboration as an ongoing conversation 152
Figure 82 A second example of query elaboration 153
Figure 83 Three-dimensional representation of an informationneed (white dot) among documents pertaining to it (black dots) 154
Figure 84 The interface for query tracking 155
Figure 85 Part of a userrsquos knowledge for the aircraft domain 160
Figure 86 The retrieval stage for images 161
Figure 87 The selection stage for images 161
xvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
Figure 88 Coherence matching for a compound concept containingtwo subconcepts and a relation between them 164
Figure 91 Fragment of a student XML data set 180
Figure 92 Fragment of a student RDF data set 181
Figure 93 SPARQL query to locate student names 182
Figure 94 SPARQL query to find the names of students with knownaddresses 182
Figure 95 SPARQL query to find people socially related to people knownby A Smyth 183
Figure 96 A spam report for one e-mail 188
Figure 101 The causes and symptoms of information overload 205
Figure 102 A model for understanding the knowing-doing gap forusing information visualization to reduce informationoverload 209
Figure 103 Perceived usefulness of information visualization 212
Figure 104 Results of adapted TAM model for information visualization 216
Figure 111 Strategic communication process 240
Figure 121 Backbone model 256
List of Practical Insights Figures
Practical Insights from The Limburg Media Group 77Figure 1 Managing the flow of information by editorial boxes at LMG
Practical Insights from the College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of TechnologyFigure 1 Current NAS communication technology updated forenhanced information sharing [9] 200
xviii LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
LIST OF TABLES
Table 11 The Chasm Between Technology and Corporate CulturemdashBetweenPossibility and Practice [9] 3
Table 71 Summary of Information Overload Sources in UserDocumentation 129
Table 72 Variables Used to Calculate the Cost of Documentation Failure 135
Table 81 Comparison of Proximity and Coherence Matching for theldquoBNC Samplerrdquo a Corpus with Manually CheckedGrammatical Tagging 165
Table 82 ROBUST04 Results Comparing Mean Average Precision (MAP)for Title Description and Their Combination for Baselineand epi-HAL 167
Table 101 Key Attributes of Information Contributing to InformationOverload 207
Table 102 Measuring Qualitative Drivers of Information OverloadThrough Perceived Usefulness Items 213
Table 103 Correlation Matrix of Construct Variables 215
Table 10A1 Measurement Analysis for the KnowingndashDoing GapModel of Information Visualization 219
Table 111 Definitions of Information Overload 233
Table 112 Implications of Information Overload 236
Table 121 Overview of Potential Improvement in the New World of Work 258
Table 122 Examples of Situations of Information Overload in Innovation 263
xix
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
FOREWORD
As I am writing this foreword I am keenly aware of the many e-mails I still have to answerthe phone calls that I still have to return and the piles of papers on my desk that I still haveto process I cannot resist occasionally checking my e-mail but I try not to reply to orbe distracted by any message I set my telephone directly to voicemail so I can catchincoming messages later A few times however I do interrupt the writing process there aresome e-mails that I really should respond to today and I check my voicemail anyway tosee if there are important messages Soon I find myself making calls after all and I growfrustrated with the interruption that I initiated myself I try multitasking listening tovoicemail messages while simultaneously reading text on my screen I switch back andforth between the screen of my PC and that of my smartphone No this is not working wellLet us concentrate on the writing process
To prepare for the writing of this foreword I consulted various information sourcesincluding Web of Science Google and Google Scholar Finding information on the topicof information overload has turned out to be easy but there is too much Google gives me39 million hits for ldquoinformation overloadrdquo and Google Scholar gives me 61000 articlesWhere should I start Given my other obligations I only have about 10 hours to read up onthe latest literature so after 3 hours of searching and collecting information I am left withonly 7 hours to read the various articles I have collected I need to read fast and smartotherwise I will not have the required information for my essay as I am already past mydeadline I realize that my essay will add another 50 or 60KB of information to the morethan 2 billion GB of information that will be produced and disseminated this year [1]
I am it seems one of those individuals suffering from information overload thisdisease of modern times that affects so many of us Information overload has in recentdecades become a phenomenon that is complained about in offices and homescommented on in mass media and studied by scholars Books and articles warn us ofthe dangers of data smog and information glut and exhort us to get rid of informationclutter and get control of our lives Psychologists study how information overload leads toinformation anxiety work stress and information fatigue syndrome and warn us abouttheir perilous consequences In management and organization studies scholars considerhow information overload negatively affects productivity and worker well-being and howthe overload may be managed more effectively In addition in fields like informationtechnology library and information studies and management information systemsresearchers study how information systems may be developed and set up so as to helpreduce information overload
The concept of information overload was popularized in the 1970s by Alvin Toffler inhis 1970 book Future Shock and in later publications [2] It has since then been picked up asa topic of study in various academic fields including library and information sciencemanagement organization studies psychology and others With the proliferation of newinformation technologies information overload has been receiving increasing attention as
xxi
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
a research topic Although there are many conceptions and definitions of informationoverload most conceptions revolve around two central ideas they define informationoverload as corresponding to situations in which the amount of information supplied toan individual exceeds his or her information processing capabilities and they emphasizethe negative consequences of these situations on the functioning or well-being of such anindividual Information overload in most conceptions is a state of having too muchinformation to digest with resulting negative effects on performance or well-beingMoreover in many conceptions it is construed as a problem specific to the workplaceIn other conceptions it is defined more broadly as a general condition of modern life thatcan manifest itself in different contexts and activities
The academic study of information overload precedes the rise of the Internet and theemergence of e-mail and mobile and social media in the 1990s and 2000s Classical notionsof information overload developed before the rise of these new media tend to define aparticular type of information overload which I call task-related information overloadTask-related information overload concerns situations in which there is too much poten-tially relevant information to perform certain tasks or make certain decisions relative to theinformation processing abilities and the amount of time and resources that an individualhas available As a result the individual becomes overburdened and either performs taskspoorly or spends too much time and too many resources on the task thereby causingproblems in other areas
Task-related information overload is simply a situation in which an individual perform-ing a task has to wade through massive amounts of information to find and interpret thosepieces of information that are most relevant to the task at hand and finds that he or she doesnot have enough time and resources to perform the task well given the informationrequirements of the task A typical example would be a situation in which an employer isasked to write an internal report of the safety procedures in a factory and is confronted withdozens of internal documents that may contain information about the factoryrsquos safetyprocedures with very little time to process them Another example is a case in which anindividual wants to learn about atherosclerosis only to find that his or her PC gives12000000thorn entries on this topic to choose from and to realize that it is difficult todetermine which entries contain reliable information that is relevant to the topic
In the 1990s and 2000s the emergence of new communication media like e-mail mobilecommunications and social media introduced a new kind of information overload Thesemedia confront individuals with a continuous bombardment of messages that require theirattention and interrupt their activities The resulting type of information overload may becalledmessage overload (or alternatively communication overload) In message overloadthe problem is not so much the abundance of information available for a given task butrather the abundance of received messages each of which invites a new task to beperformed Unlike a mere piece of information a message has a sender and one or morereceivers While some messages merely contain some information that the sender wants itsreceivers to read or see others invite replies or define tasks that its receivers are expected orinvited to perform Messages can cause overload in two ways First if people receive toomany messages they fall behind in their responses to them and feel overloaded in theprocessing of messages and any further tasks that their proper processing requires Secondmessages often interrupt activity and divert attention and may invite multitasking activitiesthereby contributing to a feeling of overload
Information overload is sometimes associated with a third type of overload which I callmedia overload In media overload the overload does not result from having too much
xxii FOREWORD
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
information to perform a task or from being bombarded by messages that ask for attentionand a response Rather overload results from having too much choice in media content andbeing lured by media messages that invite ever more consumption of media content Mediaoverload is the result of the abundance of content and channels in contemporary mediaincluding television radio the Internet and mobile and social media music gamesmovies lifestyle and infotainment sites news sites blogs and twitter feeds As a result ofthis abundance of content media consumers may become distracted from everydayactivities and become superficial channel surfers without a focus in their media consump-tion activities lost in a sea of media content
Information overload thus comes in at least three forms which include task-relatedmessage and media overload In the workplace the first two are the most importantwhereas in the home the third is often the most important Information overload in theworkplace often correlates with work overload which refers to situations in which theworkload is greater than the amount that workers can take on given the time and resourcesthat they have available Work overload can exist independent of information overload forexample in professions such as construction work or farming in which the processing ofinformation is not a major part of the job But in todayrsquos offices work overload is stronglycorrelated with information overload Todayrsquos office workers are bombarded with mes-sages that define or prompt tasks and these tasks often require the collection andprocessing of large amounts of information under time pressure Both the number ofmessages to be processed and the information intensity of tasks to be performed are majorcontributors to work overload in office environments
That information overload has negative consequences for the functioning and well-being of individuals is often considered to be an integral part of its definition Informationoverload negatively affects performance because it engenders poor decision making poorexecution of tasks loss of time because of interruptions in work activity and diminishedcreativity It also negatively affects well-being by contributing to stress anxiety fatigueloss of motivation and even depression From an organizational viewpoint informationoverload in workers may result in loss of productivity poor strategy and implementationprocesses and resulting economic losses [3]
Why has information load become such a pressing issue in our time Some of its moreimmediate causes are found in changing practices of producing transmitting storing andconsuming information which are themselves driven by recent developments in informa-tion and communication technology (ICT) Developments in ICT have enabled a variety ofdevelopments that contribute to information overload increased production of newinformation easy and cheap duplication storage and transmission of information anincrease in new information channels such as e-mail and instant messaging and ademocratization of the roles of information producer and provider which allows anyoneto easily generate content and disseminate it to others which then results in an abundanceof new content and has contributed to a low signal-to-noise ratio
It is not just developments in ICT however that have yielded information overload It isalso transformations of workplaces and organizations as well as larger changes in cultureand society Work has changed because of globalization and economic restructuring In hiswell-known study of the information society Manuel Castells argues that since the 1970s anew global capitalist economic system has been forged which is highly competitiveflexible in its labor and production processes and organized around ever changingnetworks of individuals and organizations rather than factories These networks areheld together by ICT In this new economic structure there is an imperative of constantcommunication and the constant production and absorption of information Information
FOREWORD xxiii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
and communication processes are moreover subject to competitive standards of efficiencyand quality standards [4]
Everyday life is also changing in the information society that has emerged since the1970s Contemporary society is a highly liberalized consumer society centered aroundindividual choice and opportunity People draw up their own plans make their ownlifestyle choices create their own social networks and choose the products and servicesthey want They do not necessarily trust authorities and experts instead they form theiropinions after consulting multiple information sources This highly individualized way oflife requires constant management of information and communication processes It resultsin what Heylighen has called opportunity overload the paralysis that results from havingtoo many options to choose from in life too many ways to spend onersquos vacation too manybrands of detergents to choose from too many ways of going from A to B [5] The desire tomanage opportunity overload is itself a cause of information overload as it causes peopleto seek forever more information to guide their decision-making processes
These factors suggest that information overload will not go away easily Informationoverload seems to be an aspect of the modern condition bound up with the way we haveorganized the modern economy and life So what are our prospects for limiting informationoverload Part of the solution may be found in better information technology Informationsystems may be designed to do some of the work of processing and structuring informationfor us and to help us interpret and recognize relevant information Better search enginesand filtering systems may be developed intelligent agents may help us with informationqueries and the development of semantic web technologies may further facilitateinformation retrieval and organization As philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has arguedhowever intelligent processing of information requires that information systems arecapable of discerning relevant from irrelevant information This is a skill that computersare not particularly good at [6] There are limits therefore to the extent to whichinformation systems can help manage information overload for us
Part of the solution must therefore lie in better information management by humans andorganizations Workers may be trained to master better techniques for sifting throughinformation and they may learn to be more selective and efficient communicators in themessages they send out Organizations may be redesigned so as to support a more efficienttransmission and utilization of information resources Fields like management andorganization studies library and information science communication studies and psy-chology may help us in developing these improved tools for information management
Computer Scientist David Levy has argued however that good information manage-ment is not enough to avoid information overload As he argues workers also need a spaceand time for thinking reflection and extensive reading They need to be able to step backfrom the constant stream of information piled onto them and devote time to creativethinking musing and careful consideration [7] Organizations may want to considercreating such room for their workers running against the trend of an ever-increasingproduction and consumption of information Productivity and quality may eventuallyimprove because of it
The present book considers causes of information overload its harmful consequencesand possible steps toward a reduction of information overload Therefore it makes aninterdisciplinary contribution to the study of information overload that should be of valueto professionals in a variety of fields
PHILIP BREY
xxiv FOREWORD
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
About the Author
Philip Brey PhD is currently a Full Professor of Philosophy of Technology and the Chairof the Department of Philosophy University of Twente Enschede The Netherlands He isalso the Director of the 3TU Centre of Excellence for Ethics and Technology His researchinterest is in the philosophy of technology with special emphasis on ethical issues intechnology and the philosophy of information and communication technology He isparticularly concerned with the implications of information technology for the quality oflife He has extensively published on the social and ethical impacts of informationtechnology His most recent publication is The Good Life in a Technological Age
REFERENCES
J Gantz and D Reinsel Extracting Value from Chaos IDC Corporation Report 2011 Available at httpidcdocservcom1142 Accessed June 30 2012
A Toffler Future Shock New York Random House 1970
M Eppler and J Mengis ldquoThe concept of information overload A review of literature from organization scienceaccounting marketing MIS and related disciplinesrdquo The Information Society vol 20 no 5 pp 1ndash20 2004
M Castells The Rise of the Network Society Information Age vol 1 Oxford Blackwell 1996
F Heylighen Complexity and information overload in society Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasingcontrol ECCO working paper 2002 Available at httppespmc1vubacbePapersInfo-OverloadpdfAccessed June 30 2012
H L Dreyfus On the Internet London Routledge 2001 pp 8ndash26
D LevyldquoInformation overloadrdquo in The Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics K Himma and H TavaniEds Hoboken NJ John Wiley and Sons Inc 2008
FOREWORD xxv
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
xxvii
PREFACE
This book is the culmination of four years of work that developed from an idea thatgerminated during the International Professional Communication Conference (IPCC) 2008in Montreal Canada The conference chair Dr Kirk St Amant pointed out that theprogram committee had received a number of proposals that would have made greatpapers but that did not fit the theme of that particular conference A number of theseproposals addressed a timely issuemdashinformation overload
We all experience information overload and it shows no signs of abetting Wewondered What is it How do we manage it What does the research say about it Aswe started looking into the literature we realized the paucity of solid information andresearch on the topic of information overload Our discussions quickly evolved into a bookproject during which additional authorsmdashfrom both the United States and abroadmdashwereinvited to contribute In addition we felt a strong need for corporate input so we invitedkey corporations to share their strategies for coping with the challengemdashfor both theiremployees and their organizations This book is the result of significant efforts from allinvolved
We hope that with its wide range of insights from this international group of scholarsand practitioners this book helps you the reader further understand the challenges andcosts of information overload In addition we sincerely hope that the strategies presentedherein will help you not only reduce the problem for those around you but will also deviseandor improve your own system of dealing with the information deluge that is all toocommon in todayrsquos information economy
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![Eppler Information Overload[1]](https://img.pdfslide.us/doc/110x75/54767aaab4af9fa30a8b62c7/eppler-information-overload1.jpg)
