View from the front line – Information overload and the Web

摘要

In the good old days, information wasnmainly a printed article or documentnand, if it was not relevant, it was sentnto the waste paper basket. If it wasnrelevant, it was thrown into somenform of manual filing system fornretrieval at a future date. But, as thenpile got bigger, the chances of findingnthat information became even less.nWays were found to help overcomenthat problem; for example, somenjournals regularly publish indexesnand, if you kept back copies of thenjournal, then it was sometimesnpossible to find the relevant article.nThen came the Web and thenexplosion of online information and annew beginning. No longer did wenhave to keep piles of documents ornjournals lying around; the answer wasnto go online. As we now know, it isnnot as simple as that. The problem cannbe finding the information in the firstnplace; where is it stored? And can wentrust it? All sorts of excellent andnuseful material that would have nevernseen the light of day have nownappeared on the Web. In fact, so muchnmaterial has been placed online, it isneasy to see how the term `informationnoverload’ is relevant. The sheernvolume and choice would simplynoverwhelm a mere human unless younwere much more selective.nA search for `myocardial infarction’non Google nwill generate a huge number of hits ±n130,000 and growing. You can narrowndown a search by requesting specificninformation (e.g. incidence). However,nthat could still produce a large numbernof hits. This is classic informationnoverload; the volume of informationnoffered will be far too much to assessnindividually. Ideally we want theninformation at our fingertips, quicklynand effortlessly.nOne approach is to bookmarknuseful Web sites to the favouritesnsection of your browser. It is easy tonfind outstanding and useful Web sitesnas they are advertised in traditionalnprinted medium or spread by word ofnmouth or e-mail. Swappingnbookmarks between colleagues ornchecking out quality links pages suchnas OMNI ornMedic8 arenother ways of building up a goodncollection.nNewsgroups or mailing lists arenanother excellent method of findingnsignposts to the information younwant. Or find a Web site of annorganisation that covers the topic.