Filter Failure; Are We 'Overloaded?'

Society is becoming congested with a overload of information that is neither important nor critical to everyday life. Our ability to pick and choose what bits of information we are actually interested in and would like to expand on is being cluttered by the information that we have no need for.

Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at NYU and an expert on interactive telecommunications, said at a presentation during the Web 2.0 Expo in 2008, that it is not that the amount information is growing out of control, but that our filters for managing the flow of information are failing – creating “filter failure.” This is evident primarily in social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, where people have a false impression of privacy.

Information overload does exist, and there will continue to be information overload whether we like it or not. Because of this ever increasing overload of information, it is important to consciously deal with how we filter what we need to know.

An easy way to do this is to type what is on your mind into a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. For example, when looking for instructions on how to restart an iPhone, there are certain keywords such as “restart” and “iPhone” that will return a search closer to what you’re looking for.

Another way to filter information is through the use of website settings and privacy policies. Facebook and Twitter are known for having privacy settings that can be personalized to your individual need of the user. This benefits the user by helping them have more control over who can visit and view their online profile.

Another means of controlling privacy settings is through the Google “Good to Know” website, which provides tips for staying safe online in addition to teaching users how to make websites more useful.

In order to confront the issue of filtering information, websites need to tailor the advice that pops up in searches based on the previous user searches or provide an “advanced search” option to help narrow the interests of the users.

One site that does this well is StumbleUpon. The site asks the user when they join to check boxes specific to their interests. The site will then search the web for information that matches those requirements.

Small changes like these to the way we use the web and organize information can not only increase productivity but increase our ability to effectively use the Internet.