Reducing Information Pollution
A friend pointed out an interesting patent application from IBM. The proposed system allows one to send people a calendar meeting invite that specifies no distractions are allowed during the meeting (an “exclusive attendance event”); after the attendee accepts, their computer will automatically suspend non-event related activities while the meeting is in progress. There are some additional refinements, but basically this is a computerized implementation of the seldom heard “everyone, close your Notebooks” at the start of a meeting.
Now, this is an idea with some merit; there are millions of meetings going on that are totally ineffective because everyone is “doing email” or web surfing instead of listening. It is interesting to note, therefore, how the article in the Daily Tech where I saw it reported actually ridicules it as a case of “IBM Files Patent Application to Ignore Its Software”, which is like saying that installing a brake in its cars is a case of Ford “installing a device to ignore its own motors”. Whoever wrote this was ignoring the very real benefit such a system would have on meeting effectiveness. Strange…
Join us at “Overloaded 2012″ – Feb 25 in San Francisco!
Jan. 14, 2012
The Information Overload Research Group is excited to announce Overloaded 2012, a private one-day gathering amongst those who are leading the battle against information overload from a diversity of domains such as business, academia, technology, journalism, psychology, and research. If you share this interest, we’d love your attendance in San Francisco on Feb. 25, [...]
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One Response
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm
You are right Nathan!
Daily Tech’s take on this announcement is interesting but then again to quote the late great Walt Kelly’s Pogo-
“Yep, son, we have met the enemy and he is us.”
ppt