Blog. Insight, issues, opinions and productivity solutions

Our Shrinking Attention Span and What to Do About It

Posted on November 28, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Impact and Symptoms

Photo by Daniel Cañibano on Unsplash Recently I gave my History of Computing lecture to a group of hi-tech employees. After I’d finished, an engineer came to me and complimented me in an unexpected way. “These days”, he said,  “I have a three minute attention span. After three minutes of listening to anything out comes my smartphone… but in your lecture I put it right back in my pocket!” It is pleasant to hear this kind of feedback, but as an information overload expert it set my mind thinking about the first part of his comment. The part about the.. Read more

Join me at the Oct 15 Information Overload Awareness Day Webinar!

Posted on October 7, 2019 · Posted in Uncategorized

October 15 is Information Overload Awareness Day, and we’re holding an online event at 11 AM EDT. Attendance is free but we ask that you register now here. Information Overload Awareness Day, sponsored by the Information Overload Research Group, calls attention to the problem of information overload and how it impacts both individuals and organizations. This year’s event includes a free 90-minute webinar dedicated to the theme Beyond Email: The Next Generation of Solutions On the webinar’s agenda: Welcome – Nathan Zeldes, President of IORG. Introduction – Jonathan Spira, Vice President IORG and Director of Accura Media. Solutions Beyond Email – Marc Wright, founder.. Read more

The Butlerian Jihad and the Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

Posted on September 29, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Those of us who grew up with 1960’s Science Fiction remember well Frank Herbert’s Magnum Opus, Dune. That amazing book laid the groundwork for much environmentalist thinking, and has been an inspiration for an entire generation of fans. The story’s feudal interstellar society, taking place thousands of years in our future, has very advanced capabilities, notably faster than light travel; yet one thing is missing: there are no computers anywhere (except for the mentats, who are specially trained human computers). The reason there are no computers in Dune’s universe is hinted at repeatedly in the book: it is the outcome.. Read more

Driving like a millennial

Posted on July 26, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Impact and Symptoms

An uncanny driving experience I’ve been driving in California for decades. As an Intel engineer I spent two years on relocation in Silicon Valley, and then flew in a few times a year for over 20 years. But last month I was in Santa Clara and decided to visit a friend who had moved to the central valley, an area I’ve never visited before, some 4 hours’ drive south-east of the San Jose. And unlike all my previous visits to the golden state, this time I used Waze. It worked beautifully, as always, without any need to adjust anything to.. Read more

How to Respond to a Ringing Phone in a Meeting

Posted on May 31, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

I once talked to a manager who shared this story: she’d been interviewing a young hiring candidate when his phone went off. He answered it, and it was his wife who wanted to wish him success at the interview. She told me she’d felt it was immature of him to pick up the call, though luckily for him she did not hold this against him when she made her decision. But this story made me think: did the young man do anything wrong? Or was it the right thing to do? Pros: By answering the call, he was showing respect.. Read more

What I Do in my Spare Time

Posted on April 1, 2019 · Posted in Off-topic

If you read this blog you know that besides helping organizations eliminate Information Overload, I lecture about innovation in the history of computing and curate exhibitions in science museums that deal with the history of technology. What you may not know is that my main hobby these past 15 years is collecting and researching items form the history of computing, which has informed these activities. You can see part of my collection on my hobby site, here. Now Lele Terenzani, IBM’s “Dr. Connections” and a member of the Information Overload Research Group’s steering committee, has interviewed me in a webcast.. Read more

A License to Mail?

Posted on February 27, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A glaring omission Consider: there are many potentially harmful activities that require a special license or permit. For example: Incompetent driving can harm people, so you need a license to drive. Incompetent medical practice can harm people, so you need a license to practice it. Incompetent lawyers can harm their clients, so you need a license to practice law. And so on. Heck, even James Bond had a license to kill, implying that other secret agents did not. SO: Writing email can harm people, so you need… No, you don’t. In fact, anyone can send email in an organization, no.. Read more

How Smartphones are Harming our Children – and What to Do About It

Posted on January 31, 2019 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Impact and Symptoms

When will they ever learn? Observation: people and organizations are much more eager to adopt new technology than they are to think about its potential damage. This gap gave me the basis for a 25 year career as a computing productivity expert: I realized that Intel, my employer at the time, was happily rushing towards a major mess by giving employees every new computing and communication capability without doing the required advance analysis of how they should use it. We gave users email, and were soon hit by email overload; we gave them modems, and the work/life barrier was toppled.. Read more

Science education – what I learned in Sardinia

Posted on December 2, 2018 · Posted in Off-topic

Just returned from a wonderful trip to Sardinia, Italy, where I saw some cool things related to the dissemination of science education, so I thought I’d share. I was invited by FestivalScienza Cagliari to deliver a lecture about Alan Turing and the future of AI – in Italian, mind you – which was a challenge not to be refused. This I did successfully, drawing a lively interaction with the audience and a subsequent interview in the TV news journal – evidently the lecture made everybody think, as well it should, given where AI is headed. But while I was there.. Read more

Artificial Intelligence: Where We are and Where We’re Headed

Posted on September 24, 2018 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion, Off-topic

These days we hear a lot about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but many folks I speak to seem to have little appreciation for what it’s all about – and why it’s so important. If you’re curious, here is my take on the past, present and future of this discipline. Where we’re coming from Artificial Intelligence has gone through a number of phases in the past seven decades. In the fifties there was the vision, articulated by Alan Turing, that the newly invented electronic computer will attain the capabilities of human-like thought. Then, in the sixties and seventies, computers became powerful enough.. Read more