Archive for July, 2011

He’s working!

Posted on July 26th, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

A relative of a distinguished Professor told me that he had the habit of sitting in an armchair at home with his eyes closed. When someone would come in and try to converse with him, the Prof would say “Quiet! I’m working!” As indeed he was… to sit quietly and think is a key element at the heart of an academic’s job; they need to disconnect from all distractions and THINK. One must note that this particular scholar is now in his eighties, so his habits had evolved in the middle of the previous century. I wonder whether the professors.. Read more

How to keep distribution lists short

Posted on July 20th, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

I was lecturing about Information Overload at an MBA course in Haifa University, and a student shared a lovely story. Long ago, she said, before email replaced paper correspondence, she used to work at a company where memos were written on special forms that came as a three-layer stack with chemical copying. You’d write or type the top layer and two copies were created on the layers below. This was very convenient (you didn’t need to mess with Carbon Paper) but had one side effect: you could only create up to three copies at once. If you needed more, you’d.. Read more

Telemarketing Information Overload

Posted on July 12th, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Today I got a call from a telemarketer who did her best to entice me to subscribe to a certain business journal. I told her I already had a subscription to a similar one, and she went out of her way to explain to me that hers contained that much more – more articles, more pages, more information! I may be too polite, so she kept going on even after I pointed out that I barely read a tenth of the pages of the journal I already receive; she continued until I decided enough was enough and told her that.. Read more

Audio recording of IORG “Literary Salon” webinar available for download

Posted on July 3rd, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

The IORG “Literary Salon” online event last week was very interesting, with five authors of books about Information Overload comign together to discuss their books. A recording of the entire event is available for your enjoyment here. A summary by one of the attendees is available here. Enjoy!

Yes, I do!

Posted on July 2nd, 2011 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

An attendee at a lecture at a multinational tech company pointed out to me that part of his problem with email overload stems from situations where he is part of a functional distribution list, say “All Engineering”. Some messages to the entire group he does need, but there are other specific recurrent  messages that other engineers need and he doesn’t. Then when he goes to the sender and asks to get off, he is told it can’t be done – you can’t “unsubscribe” from the list: if you’re an engineer, you are automatically included and cursed for all eternity to.. Read more