Tag Archives: information

The Myth Of Information Overload

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Categories: Musings
info_overload

I’ve heard a lot about information overload lately and how it’s killing our productivity. How we get analysis by paralysis or are all suffering from A.D.D. In short, this notion is absolutely ridiculous.

I can understand that some people may have trouble adapting to the sudden influx of information readily available to us, but the problem isn’t too much information, the problem is we don’t know what to do with it.

More importantly, it’s become clear that information is going to continue growing exponentially and become more and more accessible.

So how can information overload be a myth? Because we are now beginning to understand how to handle all of this information in two clear ways.

1. Organization Of Information

With the exponential increase in information, there was no real way to organize it, which was the first major challenge encountered.

Now, we’ve started to create structures and filters around our information in the form of reviews and curators and search engines, all of which make it easier to both filter and access the information we NEED.

This is the key point – there has always been a lot of information available, but all of a sudden we had access to all of it through the internet.

As we further develop tools and platforms, the organization of this information allows us to use it much more effectively and efficiently.

2. Adaptation To Information

The second piece of the puzzle is adapting to the new standard of information surplus, which I believe the next generation will be masters at.

For example, just look at how a kid does homework nowadays. Music is blasting, the TV is on, they’re texting their friends, and browsing Facebook – all while writing a paper on American History or doing Calculus homework.

They’ve adapted and embraced the excess information at such a young age that the idea of information overload becomes laughable.

It’s clear that information will continue to grow, but our organization of it and adaptation to it, makes the thought of information overload a myth.

Image Source: http://bit.ly/10lxN3g

Sunday’s Top Links (3.24.2013)

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Categories: Sunday's Links
Paths

Welcome to this week’s links!

1. The Not Knowing Path of Being an Entrepreneur

Embrace the ambiguity. Entrepreneurs are constantly on a path to the unknown and it’s important to learn how to deal with it. Find out how in this article from Zen Habits.

2. Forekast

Having trouble keeping up with what’s going on online? With everyone experiencing information overload, Forekast tries to cut through the noise and keep you in the know of what’s trending daily.

3. Six Simple Rituals To Reach Your Potential

Routines and rituals are important and these six simple habits could completely change how you work.

4. How To Succeed? Get More Sleep

Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can make all the difference – get more SLEEP. Sleep deficit isn’t something to be proud of. Find out why in this short TED Talk.

5. Communicating Complex Ideas With Comics

I’ve always had a fascination with comics and this fantastic guide from Smashing Magazine shows you how to use them to communicate any idea.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Image by =anja=

Launch 2 Learn

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Categories: Musings
L2L

You can read tons of books, take classes, talk to people and brainstorm as much as you want, but the only real way to truly know anything is by experiencing it.

This is the basis behind Launch 2 Learn (L2L): an approach where you ‘launch’ ideas, businesses, projects or practices in the real world to truly learn about them. Starting anything is how you can determine its value to you, how it works, and what it actually takes to achieve success.

The process is simple. After launching you measure and gather feedback. Based on this information you are able to adapt or adjust accordingly and begin the process again.

Talk is cheap as they say, but by doing you can know, you can learn, and you can grow. There are two invaluable benefits that you gain through this process.

1. Gaining Knowledge

The obvious benefit is the knowledge you get from the real world experiences you have. This should not be taken for granted. Through this type of learning you get better at solving problems, making decisions, managing expectations, and evaluating opportunities. The more you launch the more you’ll learn and the better you’ll get at starting.

2. Overcoming Fear

The primary reason most people don’t actually take action is because they are afraid. Having doubts is common and expected, but the more you get into the habit of launching ideas, the more comfortable you will be with it. By going through this process repeatedly, you’ll be more willing to take calculated risks, you’ll be more confident, and you’ll overcome your fear.

Give it a try. Find something you’ve been wanting to launch and do so on a small scale that can minimize your risk, but still gives you valuable insight. Measure your results, learn from them and adapt or start over. Simple, yet effective.

Discovering and Organizing Information

There’s tons of information out there nowadays and at times I’m overwhelmed on what to do with it all. Solutions for organizing information are becoming more and more popular as people are encountering similar problems. Here’s how I find high quality information and organize it.

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Categories: Musings
curation

There’s tons of information out there nowadays and at times I’m overwhelmed on what to do with it all. Solutions for organizing information are becoming more and more popular as people are encountering similar problems. Here’s how I find high quality information and organize it.

Discovery

As I said before, there is ridiculous amounts of information out there, but fortunately there are some great tools that let you pick and choose which sources you want to engage with. My favorite is probably Google Reader, which allows you to pull RSS feeds for any website on the internet and also provides a great way to organize the feeds. I wrote a post about it ages ago that you can check out here.

After Google Reader, the newest service that I’ve started playing around with is Pulse, which takes the same idea from Google Reader, but makes it much more visually pleasing and easy to use for mobiles devices. The user interface is great and its optimized for tablets, android devices, and iPhones. Pulse serves up content in a range of categories, but you also can add custom feeds that can be hit or miss at times.

And if you’re fortunate enough to have an iPad then Flipboard is an awesome information discovery engine that integrates content from a range of top websites in a very usable, magazine style presentation.

All in all, Google Reader, Pulse, and Flipboard are great for information discovery, but where I have found less solutions is on the information organization front.

Organizing

I’ve found few tools that are tailor made to such a need, but there are some that you can certainly tweak to provide an adequate solution. I think one of the best suited for such adaptation is Tumblr, as it allows you to share defined types of content/media including text, quotes, videos, pictures, and links. This type of structure is great for keeping track of information that you value, while also sharing it with others. A simple workaround where you define tag pages as your navigation lets you further organize the information.

Another tool I’ve found useful, but more specifically for images has been Pinterest. Essentially Pinterest lets you pin any images across the web and tag them to your boards for future use, either to keep track of information, inspiration, ideas, and more. You can check out my Pinterest boards here.

Overall I think that there is still a need for better organizational tools around information. Right now I think Pinterest has done a fantastic job in the images space and I hope to see more tools that are focused around organizing articles and videos in the future. If you know of any tools that are ideal for these needs please share!

Sunday’s Top Links (4.17.2011)

In this week’s links we see how design thinking has failed, understand the power of influencers, find a resource for infographics, differentiate between inspiration & hard work, and explore a new initiative from TED.

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Categories: Sunday's Links
GOOD Infographic

Welcome to this week’s top links!

1. Design Thinking Is A Failed Experiment

This article from Bruce Nussbaum makes the bold statement that design thinking has failed and its time to move on. It’s an interesting piece basically outlining why he thinks we’ve gotten all we can from this process and its now time to move towards the next big thing: Creative Intelligence.

2. INFLUENCERS – Steve Stoute

Influencers is a short documentary about influential people and how trends become contagious in todays world. In this short in-depth series, Steve Stoute talks about the concept of cool, culture, communication, and collaboration.  You can watch the full documentary here.

3. GOOD Infographics

I’ve been a big fan of infographics and how they present information in a visually pleasing, yet effective manner. One of the best resources I’ve found for infographics is GOOD magazines website, where they have a large collection of high quality graphics covering a range of topics.

4. Inspiration vs. Working Hard

This article from Smashing Magazine, talks about the battle between Inspiration vs. Working Hard and how working hard always wins. It goes further into why inspiration doesn’t really work, despite our infatuation with it, and how ultimately its our hard work that will lead us to success.

5. TED Education

TED has recently decided to take the venture into education with their latest initiative through TED-ED. TED-ED is essentially a new platform focused around the TED community creating and shaping how TED can use its resources to enhance education. Become part of the Brain Trust to share your ideas today.

And if you missed last week’s links, check them out here.

Connectivity and Credibility

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Categories: Musings

In the age of connectivity, with the Internet, smart phones, and live streaming, everyone has the ability to be connected 24/7. This means we are creating a culture that values immediacy over anything else. First it was Google, then Wikipedia and YouTube, now Facebook and Twitter – we are getting more and more engaged with the internet through these addictive platforms and more and more dependent on them for both our work and play.

This idea of “constant connectivity” is creating too much information and choice that can be both overwhelming and distracting. This results in a concern for credibility:

“More information has also meant more mis-information, more superficial snapshots, more shards of stray information taken out of context. And it has also meant more willful dis-information – not only differences of opinion, but distortions of fact. A wide-open internet allows divisive information to travel as far and as fast as reliable information. There are virtually no barriers to entry and anyone, responsible or irresponsible, can play the game.” The Aga Khan speaking at the 2010 LaFontaine Baldwin Symposium.

The threat of mis-information, along with the new found value of immediacy, can be a very dangerous combination as we may not take the time to ensure what we are reading is a trusted source of information. Truly we take the legitimacy and truth of information almost for granted in the digital age.

At the same time, the ability to access information immediately adds great value, as does being able to connect with anyone in the world or spread ideas rapidly. Furthermore, even if the information is not legitimate, being exposed to different ideas and opinions can raise new perspectives and lead to solutions otherwise never explored.

In the end, it is important that we are aware of ourselves and take the credibility of information into account as we participate in this shift towards constant connectivity and the digital age, to ensure we do not overlook what we truly value.

Sunday’s Top Links (10.24.2010)

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Categories: Sunday's Links

The best of the web for this week…

1. Street Artist JR Wins TED Prize 2011

Amazing street artist JR (picture of work above) is awarded a $100,000 grant from TED Prize for 2011. It’s definitely not a traditional choice for what we normally see from TED, but I think its a great decision, as his work really does portray innovation and creativity at its core. You can see more of his work here.

2. Deliberately Uninformed…

Yet again, Seth Godin with a brilliant post about how many of us are more intrigued by media and truly mindless TV shows, opposed to the value and information gained from books, news, and more impactful content.

3. 8 Habits That Crush Your Creativity

An informative post from Copy Blogger, sharing some key deterrents of your creative force, such as fears, focus, barriers, and approach.

4. IBM CityOne Game

Awesome new game from IBM Innov8, CityOne gives you control of a city and allows you to develop it in four key areas: energy, water, banks, and retail.

5. Feeling Sad Makes Us More Creative

A new study from Columbia Business School has shown a relation between creativity and feeling a little gloomy. I’m a bit skeptical, but its an interesting idea nonetheless.