Web2.0: Causes and solutions of information overload

Information duplication, information overload, information forcing, personalized customization, search engine dependence, these five are closely related. In the information-expanding Internet, especially in the Web2.0 era where many people contribute, information duplication and information overload are particularly obvious. There are many reasons for information overload, one reason is information duplication, information overload can lead to anxiety, irritability and so on. This paper attempts to explore the causes and solutions of information overload.

(Information overload makes us look like we're looking for junk in a junkyard.)

Information overload is like inflation, although the amount of money (information) is much, but the goods can be bought (useful information) less.

External causes of information overload

People who use RSS readers may be overwhelmed by information overload, and information overload can be caused by the following:

(1) Duplication of information. Information duplication can be divided into three kinds:

• Content duplication. such as reprint or citation; this happens often, for example, I subscribe to several blogs about Google, and the content of each day is basically the same (of course, the intersection of the audiences they are targeting may be very small, and the information repeats only in a few people).
• Repeat the point. The same subject information appears in the eyes of many times. Sometimes, even if the text is expressed differently, the view of the content is the same. For example, many people often condemn kungfu nets.
• Improper reader algorithm. Sometimes my friends share an article with me, and in fact I have read this article from a source I subscribe to, and the reader should have the ability to filter the read information.

(2) Too much information. There are two situations in which there is too much information:

• Too many sources of information. Many readers subscribe to hundreds of information sources.
• Excessive amount of information. If you have subscribed to a lot of information sources, if each information source output an average of 3 new content per day, then the total number of information is "3* information source".

Ii. internal causes of information overload

Information coercion is the main internal cause of information overload. Information obsessive-compulsive disorder refers to the psychological phenomenon that a person forces himself to understand some information and is afraid of information being omitted. Specifically do not elaborate here, more information on the forced symptoms and related content to see reading information obsessive-compulsive disorder and search engine dependency.

Third, the information overload brings the question

1, irritability.

Information overload can make us feel irritable. Because in the face of a lot of information, we sometimes do not know where to start from where the end, when the information is read, the new information again. Another is the duplication of information content, both of which will make us feel irritable.

Information overload is initially agitated by information that is too young. Why do you say that? People with information forcing phenomenon, when the information is too low, will feel and the world derailed, there will be irritability, and then find ways to get more information. Over time, the amount of information on the big, then there will be a message overload of irritability.

The Journal of Chinese Library cites a good analogy when it comes to the introduction of too little information and Overload:

In one compartment of the train, there are only a few views outside the window, no reading materials, games, tapes or other forms of entertainment; One passenger is already in the carriage, the other is on the bus; one can imagine the role that the newcomer might play.

• If he is taciturn, he may be bored throughout his travels due to insufficient information. This is especially true in the absence of other forms of recreation.
• If he talks too much about a few topics, such as monotonous and endless repetition of ideas, spoken language, stories, and so on. This is an overload of superfluous information, perhaps more annoying than silence.
• If he chatter, no matter what the topic is exhaustive. Such a companion is at least as boring as a silent man. It can be called an overload of information diversity, with noise.

2. Loss of time.

Spending a lot of time reading repetitive information is a waste of time.

Iv. Information Overload Solutions

1, starting from their own:

• Delete Information sources that have no value. Don't be afraid you'll miss out on some useful information, even if it's useful, but the relative waste of time and irritability is trivial.
• Set reading time. Specify how much time you spend each day reading information and not being immersed in the ocean of information.
• Personalized information Customization. Subscribe to or Read only related to their content, other content do not force themselves to in-depth understanding, customized for their own personalized information access channels.
• Graded reading. Priority is given to reading important sources of information, others to be seen.

2. Starting from the outside:

• The improvement of the reader. From "Chapter One" I mentioned that the current reader algorithm is inadequate. My ideal reader is to be able to judge duplicates and similar content, and it will automatically repeat and resemble the omission after confirming that I have read the content.
• Keyword filtering. There are a lot of special RSS filtering services, these services will be based on the set of keywords to filter the content of the information, take its essence.
• Personalized search. One manifestation of information overload is the amount of content that occurs when searching. My ideal search engine would be able to understand my search habits and search intentions at least 90% of the way, providing the most accurate answers, not a bunch of entries for me to pick.

The problem of information overload seems to bring out a new problem, Web2.0 if it is true that everyone contributes content equally, will information overload be more serious? So I think that if Web1.0 is mono-polarized, then Web2.0 is n-polarized, but this n doesn't tend to infinity, and N is just a small part of all information sources. On this issue, there will be time for further discussion.