Managing InfoGLUT

1
Managing InfoGLUT

• Laura C. Larsson
• larsson_at_u.washington.edu
• Health Services
• University of Washington
• revised May 31, 2009

2

• We are, all of us, being drawn into the
  electronic world, and we cant stop it. Its like
  being given a car without anyone telling you how
  to drive it, and you dont have a road map. Were
  driving blind.
• Sandy Sparks, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories

3

• "We're drowning in information, but starved for
  knowledge."
  
• - John Naisbitt, Megatrends

4
What is InfoGLUT?

• InfoGLUT is too much of a good thing
  information
  
• information overload is caused by the plethora of
  electronic (and paper) tools shoving information
  at us
  
• fax, copy machines, email, the Web, cell phones,
  TV
  
• too much information, like too little
  information, can lead to confusion
  
• the human mind can only process so much
  information

5
Societal Effects of Too Much Information

• personal illness and stress
• effect on data (statistics) quality
• do the data entry specialists make more mistakes
  while trying to keep up?
  
• does having too much information keep you from
  finding important data?
  
• Does it keep you from being able to compare data
  from different sources?

6
Societal Effects, continued...

• delayed decisions?
• Decision making under uncertainty
• other effects

7
Personal Illness and Stress

• if taken to extremes, an excess of information
  can make you sick
  
• Dying For Information study (Reuters/Benchmark,
  UK)

8
Effect on Employees

• employees often waste large amounts of time
  searching for the
  information they need to function
  
• think about where employees not have to look for
  information
  
• paper on their desks
• email, ftp sites
• millions of Websites and intranets
• how do they, and you, cope?

9
Basically...

• to harness this vast amount of data you, as a
  manager, need to implement new technologies and
  services that will give each user relevant
  customized content
• plus, you have to learn how to triage information

10
Purpose of This Module

• to discuss methods of coping with too much
  information, including paper
  
• to introduce you to some of the software tools
  which can be used to manage information
  
• to help you think about software tools differently

11
Purpose, continued...

• To show you that inexpensive, or free, software
  can be just as effective at managing information
  as expensive software
  
• to help you see that with a little creative
  imagination you can use software you already own
  to help you manage all sorts of information

12
Warning

• software and equipment discussed in this and
  other modules are mentioned for your edification
  and learning
  
• the instructor has no interest, financial or
  otherwise, in any of the products
  
• she uses, or has evaluated, each of the pieces of
  software mentioned
  
• it would be impossible to teach a class on
  managing electronic information without
  mentioning software

13
Information Triage

• Information triage involves prioritizing,
  delegating, and just letting some things slide
  
• you must learn how to make quick decisions about
  what to do with paper, e-mail messages, faxes,
  phone calls, and other communications
  
• avoiding, as much as possible, business meetings
  helps, too

14
Too Much Paper Information

• paper should be the last storage medium, i.e.,
  archival material
  
• you increasingly find piles and stacks of
  information - a paper blizzard - in employee
  offices
  
• people often keep paper just because its paper
• Paper clutter is postponed decisions
• Source Barbara Hemphall. Taming the Paper Tiger
  and Taming the Office Tiger. 1996.

15
Good Suggestion

• keep down paper by generating less yourself

16
To Begin to Pare Down the Piles

• Ask yourself the following 4 questions about each
  piece of paper
  
• Do I really need to keep this?
• Where should I keep it?
• How long should I keep it?
• How can I find it?

17
Danger

• If you postpone these decisions a new pile of
  paper is born
  
• my office is a good example of decisions
  postponed
  
• I have no time to THINK about anything but the
  LARGE pieces of paper (e.g., books, journal
  issues)
  
• this is the result of hours spent online

18
To Cope with Paper

• Put it into one of seven places
• A to sort tray
• Wastebasket
• Calendar (PIM or PDA)

19
Coping, continued...

• A to do list
• Names and numbers (PIM)
• Action files (use sticky notes)
• Reference files (thats what my piles are)

20
Too Much Information

• Most of us were already inundated with
  information when we dealt solely with paper
  
• But once we got access to computers and to the
  Internet and to email we really began to notice
  how difficult it was to keep up
  
• we need to learn electronic coping skills just as
  we learned paper management skills

21
Too Much Information, continued...

• we get too many email messages
• we belong to too many discussion groups
• we visit too many Websites
• we run too many Web searches
• With easy access to the Web (combined with email)
  were definitely swamped
  
• we soon have an addiction - an electronic
  addiction

22
Too Much Information, continued...

• now we have both paper and electronic overload
• we spend so much time reading email and searching
  the Web for information, we have no time to
  process the paper on our desks
  
• proliferation of useful and useless information
• so - how do we cope? Or, do we?...

23
A Time Management Test

• Do you work overtime more than once a week?
• Are you often interrupted at work?
• Do interruptions keep you from finishing your
  work?
  
• Does work which requires a long stretch of
  uninterrupted time (like thinking, planning,
  creating or analyzing data) remain undone - or is
  being done at home where you have some quiet?

24
Time Management Test, continued...

• Have you noticed that work has become what you
  fit in, in between filtering what you need to
  know, from what you don't?
  
• Do you ever feel like an unsuccessful "human
  filter" for all the information which comes
  across your desk or computer?

25
Time Management Test, continued...

• Do you have a clear idea of what you want to
  accomplish each day?
  
• Do the tasks youve assigned yourself get done or
  does something you didnt plan on doing get
  done?
  
• Are you often late to appointments?
• Have you ever forgotten to go to a meeting or
  appointment because you were too busy doing
  something else?

26
Time Management Test, continued...

• Are there materials on your desk which you
  haven't looked at in over a week?
  
• Are you one of those people who cannot say "no"
  to requests
  
• especially those requests which ask you to do
  something which may be good for your career, but
  may not be specifically work related?
  
• Have you felt or been sicker lately?

27
If You Answered Yes to More Than 5 of These

• YOURE
• IN
• BIG
• TROUBLE!

28
Keeping Up with Whats on Your Desk

• Set up a good filing system and file the paper
  even if you havent read it
  
• if you think its potentially useful
• if you really think youll need it someday
• weed your filing cabinets frequently
• optional read documents on the bus while
  commuting

29
Coping with Information Glut

• DONT PANIC
• There are ways of coping with information from
  discussion groups, Web sites and from the
  Internet in general
  
• There are MANY ways of organizing information
  youve pulled from the net

30
Managing Information General Principles

• Determine, through strategic planning, what your
  most important goals and objectives are
  
• Based on your goals and objectives, ask yourself
  which 4 or 5 information areas help you meet your
  goals - or have a high priority to your
  organization

31
Managing Information, continued...

• collect information only in those priority areas
• Ignore other information - at least, as much as
  you can
  
• if you cant, build infobases using software
  tools which enable you to easily retrieve the
  information
  
• Recognize that you may miss out on vital
  information from an unexpected source

32
Managing Information, continued...

• Set aside time in the day when you wont be
  interrupted to process the information youve
  received that day
  
• You need time to think!

33
You Need To...

• Learn to pace yourself
• Take breaks to give your brain time to absorb
  information
  
• Know when to skim and when to study
• Source Kathy Nellis. Experts Information
  onslaught bad for your health. April 15, 1997.
  Online http//www.cnn.com/TECH/9704/15/info.over
  load/index.html

34
Coping with InfoGlut More Specific Hardware and
Software Strategies

• Binders
• Digital Cameras
• Scanners
• subdirectories/Folders on your mainframe account
• Subdirectories on your hard drive
• Text Management Programs

35
Binders

• binders, in general, are really good storage
  places
  
• for meeting minutes
• for Websites when youre planning a new set of
  links
  
• for other information you need handy on a shelf
  near you
  
• and are really handy to carry to meetings

36
Binders, continued...

• Print important documents out and file them in a
  binder, ESPECIALLY help information
  
• Organize your binder
• by subject area or by topic
• by tool (i.e., PIMs, scanners, browsers)
• by date
• Use dividers with carefully labeled tabs

37
Binders

• are especially useful if you are planning a
  Website
  
• use binders with dividers
• to organize the sites you plan to include
• to write annotations from
• for examples of site design and management

38
Digital Cameras

• we are moving beyond straight text to a
  multi-media world
  
• digital images can enhance digital documents and
  ultimately communication
  
• useful for capturing pictorial information which
  can then be transmitted over the Internet to
  colleagues
  
• prices vary from 160 (300 x 240) to over 2000
  (1.2 megapixel)

39
Scanners
40
The Mainframe

• organize your mainframe folders
• by subject/topic area and/or
• by tool
• be sure to weed messages when updated information
  comes out
  
• go through old messages once a month and delete,
  delete, delete

41
Subdirectories/Folders on Your PC

• before you begin creating subdirectories, map out
  how you work
  
• then divide up your subdirectories by date, by
  subject, client, or by tool
  
• use nested folders to further subdivide
  information

42
Folders, continued...

• you might use one subdirectory for Internet
  materials, one for training modules, one for
  downloaded software you are evaluating for
  purchase
• use descriptive (long) folder names and file
  extensions
  
• update or revise your folders to meet changed
  needs

43
Regain Disk Space

• try not to organize information in too many
  places to avoid confusion
  
• keep backups on a separate drive
• archive unused information to get it off your
  system
  
• delete unused or old versions of programs

44
Zip or Jaz Drives

• get the biggest hard drive you can afford
• plus, get a Zip (100MB cartridges) or Jaz drive
  (1GB cartridges) to store archived information
  
• use one or more cartridges for Internet
  materials
  
• e.g., use one drive for email
• use another drive for file backups
• on the drives, organize by type of information in
  sub-directories

45
Finding Misplaced Files

• use Windows Explorers Find capacity
• use Explorers ability to alphabetically organize
  files
  
• click on the appropriate column heading to sort
  by name, type, date last modified
  
• file viewers
• indexing/Search tools

46
File Viewer Insos Quickview Plus

• viewers for over 200 file formats

47
Indexers

• can help you locate files containing strings or
  keywords

48
Indexers

• AltaVista Search (Web based)
• AltaVista Discovery
• dtSearch 5.0
• ZyIndex
• others

49
Alta Vista Search

• personal search engine
• find email messages, plus 50 PC applications
• i.e., it can find text strings in many formats
  including XLS, PPT, Word, etc
  
• ranks what it finds
• now called Alta Vista Discovery

50
Alta Vista Discovery

• use with a browser to find data on your computer
• attaches to your browser to search both the Web
  and your desktop
  
• searches over 100 file types
• identifies the search terms you need right within
  the page using highlighting

51
Discovery, continued...

• finds related documents on the Web
• helps you find e-mail, documents, presentations
  and so on
  
• free but required 32MB of space

52
dtSearch 5.0

• relevancy and ranked searches
• will do natural language, fuzzy, phonic, boolean,
  proximity, field, numeric range search options as
  well as thesaurus and concept searching
  
• can view graphics, too, with a built in viewer
• text you searched on is highlighted in the
  document

53
ZyIndex (Windows Version)

• document management and search engine program
• Consists of two programs
• ZyBuild reads your text files and creates and
  maintains indexes of the entire contents of your
  files (ASCII and wordprocessed files)
  
• ZyFind uses the indexes to locate needed
  information in your files
  
• You can do many kinds of searches thesaurus,
  concept, field, proximity, boolean (operators),
  wildcard

54
Text Management Programs

• There are several classes of text management
  programs
  
• Notepads
• PIMs
• Indexers
• InfoBases
• Citation Managers
• Database Managers (relational)

55
Notepad Programs

• Windows Notepad
• Windows CardFile
• Post-It type programs

56
More about...Windows Notepad and CardFile

• the MS Notepad is really good for doing quick
  editing of HTML and other text files
  
• The CardFile which comes with the Office Suite is
  a poor receptacle for names and addresses and
  really small bits of information

57
PIMs

• Lotus Organizer
• InfoSelect
• any PIM with a Memo feature
• additional information in another module

58
InfoBases

• ask Sam
• InfoSelect
• Zoot
• infobase software will be discussed in another
  module

59
Citation Managers

• ProCite 3.0 (ProCite for Windows)
• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• Papyrus
• Library Master

60
Citation Managers

• can be used to manage email messages
• can also be used to manage Websites
• requires that you be creative in your use of
  these tools
  
• may need to redo templates to meet your needs
• several already make provision for their use as
  managers of Internet site information

61
Database Managers (Relational)

• Access
• Works
• dBase
• FoxPro
• Others

62
Database Managers

• can also be programmed for managing Internet
  information
  
• programming a database is a long process fraught
  with uncertainties
  
• these databases are not really terrific text
  managers
  
• e.g., you wouldnt want to use them to manage a
  database of legislative bills

63
Keeping Up with Electronic Information

• No one person can keep up with EVERYTHING on or
  off the net
  
• Get a little help from your friends
• Make as many friends as you can on the net
• Tell them about yourself and your interests
• Ask them to route information to you if they find
  it interesting

64
Keeping Up, continued...

• Subscribe to your favorite lists, plus others
  listed on the next few slides
  
• Keep an eye on certain Websites
• Use Bookmarks (Netscape or MSIE)
• Use Websites with well-organized information
• Other coping skills email, Websites, bookmarks,
  search engines, disk space

65
Too Much Email

• we will not be covering how to cope with too much
  email this quarter
  
• if you are interestedin in learning how to cope
  with too much email look at the handouts in
  module 35

66
Too Many Websites

• Literally an explosion of Websites as the late
  adopters get on board
  
• Even those who have felt they couldnt afford a
  Website now see that its in their best interest
  
• non-profits
• organizations
• research projects

67
Too Many Websites

• Watch out for chart junk (visual clutter) at a
  site
  
• If youre in a hurry, turn off the graphics
• Look for sites where every word or graphic is
  meaningful
  
• Look for sites where the information is high
  quality
  
• Add bookmarks to your browser judiciously - and
  organize them

68
Personalized Home Pages - Browsers

• these starting sites enable you to customize your
  home page with
  
• your favorite search engines, news sources,
  weather and local information, sports or stock
  information
  
• may be able to set up your own style sheet,
  layout, banner and colors
  
• Microsoft Internet Start
• http//home.microsoft.com/
• Netscape PowerStart
• http//www.netscape.com/custom/

69
Personalized Home Pages - Search Engines

• set up personalized homepages at several of the
  search engines
  
• My Excite Channel, My Yahoo!, Lycos Personal Web
  Guide, and Infoseek Personal

70
Personalized Home Pages - News Sites

• Crayon
• http//intranets.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa011
  498.htm
  
• CNN Custom News

71
Compass Server

• companies can create customized newsletters as
  can employees
  
• receive daily, personalized newsletter summaries
  of information on topics you need to know
  
• employees can get spreadsheets, presentations,
  competitive information
  
• receive newsletter either by email or as a
  personalized Web page
  
• http//www.netscape.com/compass/v3.0/index.html

72
Bookmarks

• browsers all have bookmark capabilities
• the bookmark is one of the most valuable tools on
  your browser
  
• Netscape and Mosaic allow you to organize your
  bookmarks according to subject in folders

73
Bookmarks, continued...

• When you read email, have your browser open and
  go to the site right away to check it out
  
• add the bookmark in the appropriate section of
  your bookmark list if the site is useful
  
• or, dont use bookmarks at all
• search for everything you need using your
  favorite search engine
  
• if you use desktop mail, click on the link to
  visit the site

74
Too Many Search Engines

• literally hundreds of search engines
• select one or two search engines and learn
  everything you can about them
  
• read the search engine documentation
• good search engines
• Hotbot (http//www.hotbot.com)
• Alta Vista (http//www.altavista.digital.com)
• Excite (http//www.excite.com)

75
MetaSearch Engines

• search several search engines at one time
• may have intelligent agents built in
• SavvySearch
• WebCompass
• MetaCrawler
• cnet's search.com
• CUSI
• ALL-IN-ONE Search Page

76
SavvySearch

• sends a query to multiple Internet search engines
  and returns the complete set of results
  
• Web-based
• multiple languages
• http//www.cs.colostate.edu/dreiling/smartform.ht
  ml

77
WebCompass

• desktop, intelligent agent software
• searches the Web, eliminates dead and duplicate
  links, ranks sites, and uses AI to focus in on
  your topic
  
• runs important searches according to your time
  needs
  
• http//www.qdeck.com/qdeck/products/wc20/

78
Specialized Search Tools

• search engines miss a lot of information
• look for meta search sites such as
• Internet Sleuth
• Med Hunt

79
Internet Sleuth

• http//isleuth.com
• really useful search tool
• aggregates information from a lot of different
  sources, a meta-search tool
  
• provides access to tools not usually picked up by
  the regular search engines
  
• can search many tools and databases right from
  this site

80
Med Hunt

• http//www.hon.ch/MedHunt/
• searches only medical/health sites
• search the Web, Hospitals, Support, or Events
• many sites are evaluated, some searched by
  Marvin
  
• the site robot is called Marvin
• both HON and Marvin retrieved databases are
  searched unless you specify only HON or Marvin

81
Keeping Up Web Sites

• Scout Report via the Web
• http//wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/
• training information, catalogs, Best of the
  Web, and much more
  
• social sciences, science and engineering,
  business and econo mics

82
Scout Report Website (image)
83
Keeping Up Net-Happenings

• one-way discussion group (comes as email)
• 2 or more 30K messages a day
• really useful for software and Websites
• LISTSERV_at_internic.net
• maintained on the Web by folks who do the Scout
  Report
  
• heavily K-12 in content
• http//wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/net-hap/index.ht
  ml

84
15 of Managers Never Suffer from Information
Overload. How????

• 59 said they skimmed through reading matter and
  discarded anything not of interest
  
• 57 had a system of prioritizing information
  according to urgency
  
• 54 stored information for future reference
• 36 delegated it
• 23 said they simply ignored it
• 19 had rules to prevent information overload
• Source Kemp, 1997.

85
In Summary...

• we need to be self-disciplined
• we need to consider using a variety of tools to
  keep organized
  
• PIMs and PDAs
• use filtering software
• although still difficult, we need to keep
  metadata, not data
  
• we should organize what we decide to keep by
  using efficient desktop storage and retrieval
  software

86
Now,

• Tell me
• how you cope
• with too much information

87
Suggested Search Words and Phrases

• data smog
• infoglut, information glut
• information overload
• keeping up
• information engineering

88
References

• Dennis Eskow. Beat Information Overload. February
  1997. WWW site. Site URL http//www.pcworld.com
  /software/scheduling_pim/articles/feb97/1502p148.h
  tml Site visited 10/03/98.
• Kemp, Jackie. Information Overload. March 1997.
  WWW site. Site URL http//www2.vnu.co.uk/vnu/ro
  om/features/overload/info4.htm . Site visited
  01/03/98
• Krystyna Weinstein. Information overload
  permission to not know?. 1997?. WWW site. Site
  URL http//www.imc.org.uk/imc/news/occpaper/overl
  oad.htm. Site Visited 10/03/98.

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Quiz Just How Overloaded Are You?

• http//www.pcworld.com/software/scheduling_pim/art
  icles/feb97/1502p148t.html
  
• asks questions such as
• How many ways to reach you does your business
  card list?
  
• How old is the oldest unread message in your
  mailbox?
  
• The pile of papers in your in-box is various
  figures given

90
Social Serenity or Electronic Tower of Babel?

• The goal should be to maintain and even increase
  ready access to reliable communication and useful
  information, but to do so without compromising a
  certain social serenity and without allowing
  society to degenerate into a fragmented,
  fractious electronic tower of babel - its
  citizens not able to come together nor even
  understand one another. (Shenk, 1997, p.192)

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