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Knock, Knock: Information Pollution Is Here

Posted by timothy on from the does-this-bother-you-does-this-bother-you dept.

CowboyRobot writes ""Information Pollution" is one of the newer buzz-phrases, appearing in various media to describe unwanted phone calls, faxes, emails, etc. Jakob Nielsen, known for his critiques of user interfaces has an article about the problems of unwanted instant messaging interruptions. Nielsen is respectable not only because of the clarity of his arguments but because he also cites empirical evidence, rather than just complaining. In the article he describes the current problem, then proposes a 'control panel' as a centralized interface to manage all the communications one would make via the computer."

7 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Re:With all the spam ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    +4, god you /. people are so stupid. ever try searching with: cell phones -boosters -unlocking

  2. TMDA Challenge/Response by Aliencow · · Score: 1, Informative

    I've recently setup TMDA (www.tmda.net) to filter my inbox and it's awesome... People who confirm their email addresses get whitelisted, it generates emails for websites (ie: gepeto-keyword-9391319@aliencow.com) that I'll need to communicate with for a few days (confirmation emails etc..).. Ok getting the confirmation prompt the first time you email me might be annoying..but if everyone had this it'd be annoying but much less than spam.

  3. Mental Environmentalism by Merik · · Score: 4, Informative

    Our inbox mirrors our daily life.(even the penis enlarger ads[enzyte]).
    3000 commercial messages a day are rammed into the average persons head wether they like it or not.
    Adbusters argues that our mental environment is becoming polluted. "information pollution" has been a focus of their "mental environmentalism" since '89.

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    What is the sound of this sentence?

  4. Re:With all the spam ... by The+Cydonian · · Score: 4, Informative
    Try Alltheweb. Zero porn content in a random search for teens.

    (Of course, helps that I switched the Offensive Content Filter to 'on')

    --
    More than mere navel gazing.
  5. Re:With all the spam ... by myowntrueself · · Score: 2, Informative

    With google, if you go to the 'advanced search' you can give keywords that should not appear in the results.

    This is very useful for removing crap *cough*blogs*cough* from the results.

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    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  6. Communication Pollution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Information Pollution" is one of the newer buzz-phrases, appearing in various media to describe unwanted phone calls, faxes, emails, etc.

    That's not "information pollution," at best that's "communication pollution".

    "Information pollution" is a glut of information, so much so that it is difficult to locate, understand, and/or disseminate information that is correct and relevant.

    An example of information pollution is an Ask Slashdot requesting comparisons of the Linux and *BSD VM subsystems answered by three calmly worded, widely informed, well paced posts being drowned by five hundred wrong-headed OS proselytization posts. I cruse at no lower than +4.

  7. Information pollution may be a new buzzphrase by wiresquire · · Score: 2, Informative

    but is not exactly a new conycept. It's been around in the knowledge management world for many years.Eg, here's a link that mentions it from 1998, but I'm sure that there were a number of research papers that refer to this from earlier.

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    So does Anonymous Coward have good karma?