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Knock, Knock: Information Pollution Is Here
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."
Even very effective spam filters today (SpamAssassin, et. al) still produce false positives sometimes. I don't want any and all electronic communication coming to me to be subject to some Internet Control Panel's idea of its usefulness to me - what happens when my boss sends me an email and it gets rejected by the control panel and I never see it? I do use SpamAssassin myself but still have to check the junk folders from time to time because it occasionally sticks stuff in there that I really did need or want to see.
oh fuck, i only rtfa after i wrote a comment.
the guy is making no sense. his control panel is just an app for idiots to filter the mail they subscribed for.. wtf, that's supposed to be new, auto filtering into boxes? geez, somebody drag this guy into 2003 before it's too late!
that is supposed to be an article!?!?!? it's just a bitching up!
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
The idea for solving "Information Pollution" is interesting, but what of the quality of the information that is delivered? In this day and age when you can find web sites devoted to "Proof we never made it to the moon" and hard facts are often replaced with "that sounds about right" isn't the real pollution the content we supposedly want - and not the advertisers?
Find me a system to easily and quickly verify the "facts" with something I can trust.
AngryPeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
1. Do you ever use your email like an instant messenger? Meaning, do you and another person sit there writing messages to each other in almost real-time? You sit there pathetically pressing refresh or check email, waiting for the next reply? I have.
2. A control panel for monitoring information flow is not a bad idea - just that it needs to be implemented to cover everything and be easy to use. You should be able to easily define rules (like spam rules) that says what to do with the messages if they meet certain criteria.
Of course, it defeats the purpose of IM - after all, if you don't want to be available, or just don't want to be interrupted, just turn the thing off!
3. I think that instead of finding a technical solution (yet another program that will cure all, bring world peace, and improve worker productivity - remember that's what they said about email? Instead of all of these, just sit down and take some time and figure out the best routine for yourself. Everybody has different work habits, and a control panel, no matter how flexible, is not going to accommodate everyone's requirements. If you don't want to be interrupted, then just turn those notifications off, change your IM status to "away" or "do not interrupt"
4. Some workers don't "want" to be productive. They want to be interrupted.
This may be hard for some to fathom, but try this: turn it off. No really. I mean it. When I need to work, I minimize email, go "invisible" on IM, and let voicemail pick up the phone. My cell phone has caller ID so I can ID my wife and know to pick up the phone.
All of these technologies have a way of being turned off and queueing messages for you. Use it. When you're ready for a break or it's just that time again, process them in bulk and get them over with. When I was programming, I only processed email 2-3 times a day (morning, right before lunch, and towards the end of the day) and this worked very well. Having a gig in marketing land has changed my job requirements where I'm actually judged by how often I interact with the sales team and customers so I check mail more often -- but, when I need to get a document written up or read and comment on something else, I minimize it all and focus.
One last note about IM -- have strict rules about IM. I don't socialize over IM when I'm working. I tell friends that are on my buddy lists to not expect a response during typical working hours if they just want to chat. I won't respond. If you want to send a social comment, send it via email to my personal mailbox and I'll get to it when I've got time to socialize.
I think he makes a good point with the statement that a one minute interruption can cost 10 to 15 minutes of productivity. Maybe productivity is the wrong word here because it translates so easily into money these days. Concentration would be much better. I for myself need a room that can be locked, a telephone line that can be unplugged and a quiet and relaxed atmosphere to concentrate on the work I want to do or that I have to do.
Unfortunatly this seems to be impossible in "modern" offices, there's lots of noise (IM and E-Mail is "noise", too!), everybody thinks he just can walk in after knocking at the door without waiting for a "come in" and the phone rings permanently.
It's great that you can reach and can be reached at any time at any place today. But it would be even greater if you could not be reached some time and others would respect that. Everybody who tried to have a phone line "just for emergencies" knows how people abuse it over time...
Good grief, why? IM seems to me to combine the worst features of the telephone and e-mail. I've never understood its allure. E-mail is quite fast enough for non-interactive communication, and if you want interactive communication pick up the phone (or better yet get off your ass and walk over to me, if we're in the sam building, I hate intra-office telephoning) and we can be much more interactive when we don't have to type at each other. And many people have e-mail through work, but not IM accounts. (Sadly, spammers are not amoung them, as IM spam is apparently becoming common.) Plus, the IM space is fragmented.
So, can anyone convince me that I should sign up for an IM account?
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
A better definition from Nielson:
"Excessive word count and worthless details are making it harder for people to extract useful information. The more you say, the more people tune out your message."
--
What is the sound of this sentence?
It reads like a golden opportunity for entreprenurial programmers.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Yeah, that is becoming a real problem, any search for anything that is remotely connected to mobile/cell phones returns the dreaded "FREE RING TONES".
Unless you go to the manufacturers site all you get is crap.
Googles next challenge I guess.
"Information Pollution" is one of the newer buzz-phrases, appearing in various media ...
Hmmm. Funny thing is that I've always considered those buzz-phrases that are so often bandied about by 'various media' as Information Pollution in their own right. The by-products of processing good information down into a more-assimilabable (but less rich) format for consumption by the masses.
GMD
watch this
Look I get as much junk IM and email as any one else, but i filter and block religiously, it is the only way I can stay productive. When I really need to get things done I'm not afraid to turn those items off.
The best little gem from the article --
This whole article shines as an example of that "irrelevancy"...
Just remember if jacob had his way we would all still be using blue links!!!
The obnoxious part of this idea, to me, is that it seems to ignore the problem of creating a program, or control panel, that would be able to determine what is of interest to a particular person at a particular time and what is not. This problem is unlikely to be be solved by smart filters and summarizing programs anytime soon, because what is interesting to a person is very much dependent on that person's state of mind at the moment. What may be interesting and diverting news while you're sipping your morning coffee would be an annoying distraction when you are on a conference call, or trying to work out a difficult problem. Unless we had software that could model a particular person, as a whole and taking into account all inputs _and_ their mental state at the time of those inputs, such "personal agents" could be worse problems than the ones they would solve, removing perhaps critical information while letting extraneous irritating information through. It seems to me that this would be a nontrivial problem to solve, and the idea that it would be solved for something as seemingly trivial as information overload, when there are much easier non-technical ways to overcome that burden, (e.g. turn off your IM when you're busy, etc.) is a case of sloppy thinking, in my opinion.
And I didn't even mention the worst new irritant: the accumulated ringings of everyone's personal cellphones, all of which are set up to ring with the most annoying and lengthy ringtone possible, at the highest possible volume.
is that he thinks there's some magical universal solution that will work for every person. It's not true.
I remember reading Clay Shirky's open letter to him and they were debating the same sort of thing over web standards compliance. Clay Shirky was taking the position that diversity and experimentation in user interface design ultimately creates a better system. I tend to agree with that.
Anyway, back to the topic. While I agree IM is not the best solution to everything, it works for me quite well.
I work from home as a programming consultant. I work with a few other people, and IM is the most common way we communicate. It's faster than email and telephone in general when you have quick questions, and is convenient when you have longer conversations throughout the day and want to leave the information up on the desktop.
Sure it's not perfect. One of it's best (and worst) features is the the ability to know when someone is online. It's annoying when you're trying to eat dinner and someone from work sees that you were just online. Yes, you can ignore it, but it can still be annoying if you don't manage it properly. It just requires a bit of discipline.
As for IM spam, if you just have your settings so that you only receive messages from people on your contact list, you should generally be fine. It doesn't disable the requests for people to add you to the list, so if anybody really wants to talk to you, they can still reach you.
Email is still more convenient when you're sending things back and forth that you want to save for a long time. IM doesn't do that well (yet.).
I think what's really needed is a way to store and search all the different forms of information you get from day to day in email and IM and strip out the fluff. I have tons of emails in my mailbox that I may just keep around for one or two lines in them, but would be nice if there was a simple way to delete all the stuff I don't need and keep the info I do.
A search for teens using Google didn't show any adult sites on the first four pages at least. I just had a quick look, and on page four I didn't bother going any further.
And the other comments about ring tones. What are you people searching for? I don't seem to have these problems at all.
Enlighten me.
Clever signature text goes here.
You are definitely dead-on - it sounds like they did manage themselves and you out of a job. In the future, I'd recommend you see managers who are so short sighted that they want to constantly nag and harrass their employees as a clear indicator of a project/company destined for failure and avoid them at all costs. Instead of getting yourself reprimanded by ignoring explicit instructions, float your resume around and find another job or transfer to a different group if you're in a big enough company. It was obvious to you that the policy was stupid - trust your intuition and find better people to work for.