Tech firms fighting information overload

From today's NYT:

The onslaught of cellphone calls and e-mail and instant messages is fracturing attention spans and hurting productivity. It is a common complaint. But now the very companies that helped create the flood are trying to mop it up.

Some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are banding together to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers — theirs and others — cope with the digital deluge.

Their effort comes as statistical and anecdotal evidence mounts that the same technology tools that have led to improvements in productivity can be counterproductive if overused.

The big chip maker Intel found in an eight-month internal study that some employees who were encouraged to limit digital interruptions said they were more productive and creative as a result.

Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.

Link: Lost in E-mail, Tech Firms Face Self-Made Beast

Comments

[Nathan Zeldes]

Much exciting progress on this front... the Information Overload Research Group we've founded is holding its inaugural conference in New York City on July 15th, and we have every intent to pull together many of the diverse efforts to curb the Info Overload problem.

Look us up at http://www.iorgforum.org , and feel free to join and have your say!

[Kevin]

Excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the conference.