Wise Attention Choices

Society implies that it is your civic and moral duty to keep abreast of every tidbit of news and current events. Yet, in this era more, information is generated on earth in one second than you can take in the rest of your life.

The notion that you can watch the news, read the paper, or scan the Web to catch up on events is erroneous. You can only keep abreast of a small amount of information. So make wise choices about where you want to offer your time and attention.

What is Information?

Information: a message received and understood
Information: a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn, "statistical data"
Information: knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction

Information: that which reduces uncertainty. (Claude Shannon)
Information: that which changes us. (Gregory Bateson)
Information must be something, although the exact nature isn't clear

Information must not be a repetition of previously received message
Information must be true; a lie or false or counterfactual information is mis-information.
Information must be about something.

Beyond the Information Explosion

As I wrote in my 2007 book, Breathing Space, the term "Information Explosion" has no meaning. The discharge of information spewing forth since the phrase information explosion was first coined dwarfs the original meaning. Within a few years, half of our technical knowledge will have been replaced.

Every other page in all the texts on AIDS, biomass, chemical dependency, diet, electronic funds transfer, fire retardation, gynecology, hydrogen fission, immunology, jet propulsion, kinetics, linear motion, meteorology, novas, obstetrics, pituitary functioning, quasars, relativity, sonar, telemetry, uranium, viruses, wellness, x-rays, yacht racing, and zoology, will be rewritten.

So, your task becomes to focus on the handful of key developments in your field that will have the greatest impact on you, your organization, your family, and your world.

Check out the Story

Before you relay potentially bogus information to others, check out the story on your own:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
http://www.quackwatch.org/
http://www.straightdope.com/

http://www.snopes.com/
http://www.truthorfiction.com/
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
http://www.skeptic.com/

Terminated for Email Violations

What type of information are you sending? In 2003, 22 percent of employers reported they had terminated an employee for violating e-mail rules, according to an e-mail survey from the ePolicy Institute and American Management Association.

How Much New Info Annually?

“How much new information is created each year?” Researchers at Berkeley University say that “Newly created information is stored in four physical media: print, film, magnetic and optical, and seen or heard in four information flows through electronic channels, telephone, radio and TV, and the Internet.” The executive summary is provided at http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/execsum.htm

Information Defined

Information is a message received and understood.
Information is a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn.
Information is statistical data.
Information is knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction.

“Information is that which reduces uncertainty.” Claude Shannon

Information must be something or about something, although the exact nature – substance, energy, or abstract concept – isn't clear.
Information is not a repetition of previously received message.
Information must be true. A lie or false or counterfactual information is mis-information

“Information is that which changes us.” Gregory Bateson

Smart Homes Coming?

In ten or twelve years, perhaps, “smart” homes with computers built into the walls will become affordable. Such computers will respond to voice commands, offer a random-access data base, provide instant simulation via artificial reality, and free us to effectively use information, not be abused by it.

For now, we're stuck in the mire of the over-information era, subject to the daily overglut. The best hope to hold off the din is to recognize all its disguises. If we cannot apply, reflect upon, or effectively store information, more than ever, we need to guard against being deluded with
excess data.