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Digital skills: succeeding in a digital world
Digital skills: succeeding in a digital world

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2.2 Dealing with information overload

Being able to handle information efficiently is a skill which will stand you in good stead, both when studying and at work. Information overload is a very real problem, which – as discussed in Week 4 – can affect morale and well-being if not acknowledged and tackled.

So far, you have looked at the search process and found out how you can refine your search using some of the options in Google. Making full and efficient use of search engine functionality can be a useful tool to help you deal with information overload, but human input is required too. In your initial search, you selected a couple of results. This involved filtering.

Filtering is a mental process involving skim-reading, evaluation and a series of quick judgements about what to do next. When faced with a screen full of search results, you can get a feel for which ones might be relevant by looking at the headings, highlighted keywords, type of site, URL and date.

Having decided to investigate a site further, you can get a quick overview by employing some scanning and skimming techniques.

Scanning involves looking quickly down the page to locate relevant words, phrases or images that you are interested in. This will help you to decide whether you should read further and how useful the website or document might be. You can scan:

  • headings and subheadings
  • images and artwork
  • the body text itself, e.g. for authors’ names
  • the sitemap.

Skimming the text quickly involves:

  • getting an indication of the scope and content of the information
  • looking at the first sentence of each paragraph to see what it’s about
  • noting the key points in any summaries.

Of course, information overload is not just about information you find on the web when you are looking for it – it can also come from our inboxes. It is easy to sign up for information from various sites, such as retailers or restaurants, and then find your inbox overflowing with frequent messages that aren’t necessarily useful.

Activity 5 Tackling information overload

Timing: 10 minutes

It’s time to hear from Manuela, Michael and John about some of their experiences of information overload and how they dealt with it. As you listen to the audios, think about your own situation and make a note of any tips you want to remember. Add these to your Digital plan.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: Manuela talks about information overload
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Manuela talks about information overload
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Download this audio clip.Audio player: Michael talks about information overload
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Michael talks about information overload
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Download this audio clip.Audio player: John talks about information overload
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John talks about information overload
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The 5 Ds (Caunt, 1999), that Michael referred to, are a useful technique to help you be more decisive when handling information that comes to you. They can be summarised as:

  1. Discard
  2. Deal with (Do It Now)
  3. Determine future action (SIFT it – Schedule It now For Tomorrow)
  4. Direct / Distribute it (think about why you are directing it and what you expect the recipient to do with it)
  5. Deposit it (file it).

All of the techniques considered so far are part of the broader ability to take a critical stance towards what you read. This is about knowing what questions to ask, so that you can determine not only what information is relevant to you but also who put it there, what their viewpoint might be and how far it can be trusted.

Critical thinking is a skill of great value for academic study and beyond. It will also help you to stay in control of your digital life, rather than feeling it is controlling you. In fact, it is probably the number one skill you can develop.