Overcoming Information Overload Anne Pemberton pembertonauncw edu A

Overcoming Information Overload Anne Pemberton pembertona@uncw. edu

"A weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in 17 th century England. " R. S. Wurman, Information Anxiety

Information Overload … l Having so much information available that you either cannot assimilate it all or it feels too overwhelming to take any of it in

Information Overload l Overwhelmed by the amount of information l Don’t understand the available information l Desperate to know if certain information exists l Don’t know where to find information l Unable to access information

Research on IO l Once workers are interrupted by an email it takes an average of 24 minutes to return to the suspended task l 2, 300 employees judged nearly one third of the emails they receive to be unnecessary, but spend two hours a day processing them l http: //www. guardian. co. uk/technology/blog/2009/sep /24/information-overload

Info Overload Results In … l Anxiety / Stress l Delay in Decision Making l Lack of Job Satisfaction l Waste of Time l Working Longer Hours

My Information Overload l l l l E-mails (urgency/time of sender) Mail Voice mails Meetings Newspaper/News Research for others Research for me Websites

Solutions l Organizational l Individual l Related to research

Acceptance l Thomas Young (1773 – 1829) l English scientist, researcher, physician, and polymath l “Last person to know it all”

Organizational Suggestions l Discuss “best practices” for your department: l l What “method” will you use for communication? l E-mail? § Short messages: EOM (End of Message) § Encourage brief messages (no more than 5 sentences) § Use specific subject lines (not “FYI” or “tomorrow”) § Resist replying to all § Avoid personal e-mails to colleagues on work e-mail l Share. Point? Blogs/wikis? File Sharing l Establish best practices for file naming (mins. docx vs. Curriculum Committee Minutes 10 -12 -09. docx)

Organizational Continued l Listservs: l l l Set limits for yourself and respect other people’s limits l l l No need to maintain contact lists individually Practice good etiquette (keep the personal out of professional) You cannot be available 24/7 Don’t expect others to be either Do not have meetings without agendas, moderators, or a minute taker

Individual Suggestions l Organize your work space l Everything has a “home” l l l l File cabinet with folders Book case for books You use it, you put it back Set up time each week (15 minutes on Fridays) to weed, recycle, organize, clean, etc. You do NOT need to print everything You do NOT need to keep everything You do NOT need to read everything

Keeping Information l Ask these questions: l l Can I get this info elsewhere if I do need it? Is this something I really need? How will it help me? Now that I've read it and understand it, do I need to keep it? If I do keep it, where can I put it so that it is easily accessible and I don’t have to hunt for it?

E-mail l l How many accounts do you need? l One personal and one professional (? ) Do not leave inbox open all day l Determine specific times that you will check email l E-mail signature that reads “I answer e-mail at 10 a. m. , 1 p. m. , and 4 p. m. If you need a quicker response, please call. ” l Act on message when you get it (Respond, delete, file)

E-mail Continued l If you have to keep messages, create folders l l Useful names Once a week or month weed (put this on your calendar) Don’t save everything – be realistic Modify junk folders in your e-mail http: //www. uncw. edu/itsd/services/communication/SPAM. html Good gauge – mailbox size l http: //www. uncw. edu/itsd/help/instructions/Manage. Your. Email. html l Store large files on SAMMY/TIMMY - not in your e-mail l http: //www. uncw. edu/itsd/help/instructions/Sammy. html

Phone Calls l l l Do not answer phone calls from unrecognized numbers (unless it is your job to answer the phone) Do not answer phone if you are concentrating on something (they can leave a VM) Tools: l http: //www. grandcentral. com/ l http: //www. simulscribe. com/ l http: //jott. com/default. aspx

Technology l Is your “Crackberry" stressing you out? l l l Take a day off! Leave the technology at work (don’t check e-mail at home) What are you REALLY missing?

Taming the Web: RSS l RDF Site Summary / Rich Site Summary / Really Simple Syndication l RSS is a standard XML format for delivering content that changes on a regular basis l Content is delivered in small chunks, generally a synopsis, preview, or headline

RSS l Using a special program called a "feed reader" or "RSS aggregator", you can easily track any type of information that changes on a daily or even hourly basis from multiple sites l Lets you know when your favorite websites have been updated l l l Through your e-mail Through the web Through “aggregators” like Bloglines

Using RSS l Look for small, orange icons (RSS or XML) l Most common: Use a “reader” (like bloglines. com or Google Reader) l Can also use in your e-mail

Other Tools l http: //www. nextfeeds. com/ l http: //www. feeddemon. com/ l http: //readitlaterlist. com/ l http: //www. rememberthemilk. com/ l Firefox bookmark add-ons

Blogs & Wikis l Let someone else do the work! Great for sharing information l Blogs Example: http: //keptup. typepad. com/academic/ l Search for blogs: http: //blogsearch. google. com/ l Wikis Example: http: //www. libsuccess. org/index. php? title=Main_Page l Search for wikis: http: //www. google. com/Top/Computers/Software/Groupwar e/Wiki/

Research l I happen to know some folks who can help …

Research: Alerting Services l Let’s you know (alerts you) about new materials l Books and articles l Most databases l TOC (Table of Contents) Service through Ingenta. Connect

Alerting Services l "New book" alerts (will e-mail you when new books arrive) l l l l l Go to library website (http: //library. uncw. edu) Click on “My Library Account” Click on “Library Home” at top, right Click on “Search the Catalog” Perform a search Click on gray box (“Save as preferred search”) Click on the “Patron Record” button at the top (blue box) Click on the “Preferred Searches” button on right (blue box) Click the box next to your search terms in the column labeled “Mark for Email” Click on “Update List” (blue box)

Keeping Your Citations Organized l Bibliographic Management Tools l l End. Note or End. Note Web Zotero Other Tools l l Library Toolbar http: //library. uncw. edu/web/research/tools. ht ml

Personal Life l l Get rid of junk mail (save you and save a tree!) l http: //www. stopjunkmail. org/ Can you keep work separate from personal? Disconnect from technology Social Networking: l Can’t keep up on Facebook? l Create lists (e. g. Important People) l l Do you really need 500 friends? Really? http: //www. digsby. com/ (brings all your contacts together in one place)

More Resources on IO l “Death by Information Overload” (article by Paul Hemp in Harvard Business Review, September 2009) l http: //www. managingio. com/ http: //www. iorgforum. org/ http: //communicationoverload. com/ http: //www. slaw. ca/2007/06/26/combating-informationoverload/ http: //www. mindtools. com/pages/article/new. ISS_90. htm http: //www. xerox. com/information-overload/enus. html l l Anne Pemberton, Instructional Services Coordinator, RL pembertona@uncw. edu