List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv -- List of Figures xvii -- List of Tables xix -- Foreword xxi -- Preface xxvii -- Acknowledgments xxix -- A Note from the Series Editor xxxi -- Contributors xxxiii -- About the Editors xxxvii -- 1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD: AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE TO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS 1 -- Judith B. Strother, Jan M. Ulijn, and Zohra Fazal -- 1.1 Definitions, Causes, and Consequences of Information Overload 1 -- 1.1.1 Definitions of Information Overload 1 -- 1.1.2 Causes of Information Overload 2 -- 1.1.3 Consequences of Information Overload 3 -- 1.2 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4 -- 1.2.1 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5 -- 1.2.2 A Supplier/Producer/Writer and Client/User/Reader Perspective 5 -- 1.2.3 An International/Intercultural Perspective 7 -- 1.2.4 An Innovation Perspective 7 -- 1.3 Readers of this Book 7 -- 1.4 Structure of this Book 8 -- 1.4.1 Section I: Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8 -- 1.4.2 Section II: Control and Reduction of Information Overload 10 -- References 11 -- SECTION I. CAUSES AND COSTS OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD -- 2 OF TIME MAGAZINE, 24/7 MEDIA, AND DATA DELUGE: THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD THEORIES AND CONCEPTS 15 -- Debashis “Deb” Aikat and David Remund -- 2.1 Introduction 16 -- 2.2 Theory and Concept of Information Overload 16 -- 2.3 Information Overload as a Twentieth Century Phenomenon 17 -- 2.4 Evolution of Information and Its Proliferation in Society 21 -- 2.4.1 The Early Quest for Information and Knowledge (320 BCE-Thirteenth Century) 21 -- 2.4.2 The Age of Renaissance (Fourteenth-Seventeenth Century) and the Printing Press 22 -- 2.4.3 The Industrial Revolution (Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century) and Its Information Innovations 23 -- 2.4.4 The Era of the Mind and the Machine (Twentieth Century) 24 -- 2.4.5 Internet Boom and Information Explosion of the 1990s 27 -- 2.4.6 Data Deluge and Information Overload in the Twenty-First Century Digital Age 28.

2.5 Information Overload Concepts 29 -- 2.5.1 Definitions of Information Overload and Related Concepts 29 -- 2.5.2 The Context of Information Overload 30 -- 2.5.3 Causes and Consequences of Information Overload 31 -- 2.6 Conclusion and Four Lessons Learned 32 -- Acknowledgment 33 -- References 33 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM IBM 39 -- 3 THE CHALLENGE OF INFORMATION BALANCE IN THE AGE OF AFFLUENT COMMUNICATION 41 -- Paulus Hubert Vossen -- 3.1 Introduction 42 -- 3.2 Quantitative Aspects of Information Overload 43 -- 3.3 Qualitative Aspects of Information Overload 45 -- 3.3.1 Philosophical Perspective: Information in Science and Technology 45 -- 3.3.2 Political Perspective: Information in Modern Society and a Global World 46 -- 3.3.3 Economic Perspective: Information as a Commodity on the Market 47 -- 3.3.4 Societal Perspective: Information as the Glue Between Communities 48 -- 3.3.5 Psychological Perspective: Information as a Basis for Knowing and Acting 49 -- 3.3.6 Ecological Perspective: Information as a Prerequisite for Living Creatures 50 -- 3.4 Conclusion 51 -- 3.5 A Call for Fundamental Research 52 -- References 53 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM XEROX 55 -- Xerox Takes on Information Overload 55 -- Identifying the Problem 55 -- Sharing Information 56 -- Sorting Information 57 -- Cutting Through the Clutter 57 -- Life-Saving Software 58 -- Urban Central Nervous System 58 -- 4 FROM CAVE WALL TO TWITTER: ENGINEERS AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS AS INFORMATION SHAMAN FOR DIGITAL TRIBES 61 -- Anne Caborn and Cary L. Cooper -- -- 4.1 Introduction: The Dawn of the Information Shaman 62 -- 4.2 The Magic of Metaphor 64 -- 4.3 The Audience: The Emergence of Digital Tribes 65 -- 4.4 Quill to Keyboard: The Writer and New Media 66 -- 4.5 Helping the Reader: Techniques for the Information Shaman 68 -- 4.6 The Magic of Hypertext Techniques: Journeys at the Speed of Thought 70 -- 4.7 Conclusion: The Responsibilities of the Information Shaman 72 -- References 73 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LIMBURG MEDIA GROUP 75.

Newspaper Position in The Netherlands 76 -- Managing Information Overload Using an Evolutionary Approach 76 -- A Revolutionary Perspective 77 -- 5 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 79 -- Jan M. Ulijn and Judith B. Strother -- 5.1 Introduction 80 -- 5.2 Levels of Culture 81 -- 5.3 Cultural Patterns of Discourse Organization 82 -- 5.4 High Context Versus Low Context 83 -- 5.5 Internationalization Versus Localization 85 -- 5.5.1 Latin America 86 -- 5.5.2 Japan 87 -- 5.5.3 China 87 -- 5.6 The Effect of Professional Culture 88 -- 5.7 Japan and U.S. Discourse Structures 91 -- 5.8 Cultural Issues in Reader Versus Writer Responsibility 92 -- 5.9 Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators and Their Corporations 93 -- 5.10 Conclusion 95 -- References 95 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM A2Z GLOBAL LANGUAGES 99 -- 6 EFFECT OF COLOR, VISUAL FORM, AND TEXTUAL INFORMATION ON INFORMATION OVERLOAD 103 -- NoÈel T. Alton and Alan Manning -- 6.1 Introduction 104 -- 6.2 Previous Studies of Decorative and Indicative Effects 106 -- 6.3 Experiments and Results 111 -- 6.3.1 Study One: Restaurant Menu Design 112 -- 6.3.2 Study Two: Graph Design and Recall Accuracy 114 -- 6.3.3 Study Three: Diagram Design and Recall Accuracy 116 -- 6.4 Practical Implications for Engineers and Technical Communicators 117 -- 6.5 Conclusion 119 -- References 121 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM APPLIED GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES 123 -- 7 COST OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD IN END-USER DOCUMENTATION 125 -- Prasanna Bidkar -- 7.1 Introduction 126 -- 7.2 Information Overload 126 -- 7.3 Causes of Information Overload 128 -- 7.4 Sources of Noise in User Documentation 129 -- 7.4.1 Information Content 129 -- 7.4.2 Channel 130 -- 7.4.3 Receiver 131 -- 7.5 Effects of Information Overload on Users 132 -- 7.6 The Current Study 133 -- 7.6.1 The Survey 133 -- 7.6.2 Results and Observations 133 -- 7.7 Cost of Information Overload 135 -- 7.7.1 Cost Framework 135 -- 7.7.2 Scenario 1: Ideal Scenario 136 -- 7.7.3 Scenario 2 136.

7.7.4 Scenario 3 136 -- 7.7.5 Scenario 4 136 -- 7.7.6 An Example from the User's Perspective: Denim Corp 137 -- 7.7.7 An Example from the Producer's Perspective: Logistics Corp 137 -- 7.8 Conclusion 138 -- References 139 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM HARRIS CORPORATION 141 -- Sources of Information Overload 141 -- Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 142 -- SECTION II. CONTROL AND REDUCTION OF INFORMATION OVERLOAD: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE -- 8 TAMING THE TERABYTES: A HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACH TO SURVIVING THE INFORMATION DELUGE 147 -- Eduard Hoenkamp -- 8.1 Introduction 148 -- 8.2 Reducing Information Overload by Being Precise About What We Ask for 150 -- 8.2.1 Conversational Query Elaboration to Discover Support Groups 150 -- 8.2.2 Constructing Verbose Queries Automatically During a Presentation 151 -- 8.3 Steering Clear of Information Glut Through Live Visual Feedback 152 -- 8.4 Improving Search Engines by Making Them Human Centered 156 -- 8.4.1 Case 1: The Basic Level Category 158 -- 8.4.2 Case 2: The Complex Nominal 162 -- 8.4.3 Case 3: Exploiting Natural Language Properties 165 -- 8.5 Conclusion 167 -- Acknowledgments 167 -- References 168 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE LABORATORY FOR QUALITY SOFTWARE 171 -- References 173 -- 9 TECHNOLOGIES FOR DEALING WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD: AN ENGINEER'S POINT OF VIEW 175 -- Toon Calders, George H. L. Fletcher, Faisal Kamiran, and Mykola Pechenizkiy -- 9.1 Introduction 176 -- 9.2 Information Overload: Challenges and Opportunities 177 -- 9.3 Storing and Querying Semistructured Data 179 -- 9.3.1 XML as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 180 -- 9.3.2 RDF as a Data Format for Semistructured Data 181 -- 9.3.3 Remarks on the Use of XML and RDF 183 -- 9.4 Techniques for Retrieving Information 183 -- 9.5 Mining Large Databases for Extracting Information 187 -- 9.6 Processing Data Streams 190 -- 9.7 Summary 190 -- References 191 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS, FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 195 -- From Data to Information to Situational Awareness to Decisions 196.

Transformative Airspace Architecture 197 -- Robust, Agile, and Intelligently Responsive Information-Sharing Architecture 197 -- Next Generation Efforts to Manage Information 198 -- Distributed Decision Making 199 -- System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) 200 -- Shared Situation Awareness and Collaborative Decision Making 201 -- Automation and Information in the NAS 201 -- Summary 201 -- References 202 -- 10 VISUALIZING INSTEAD OF OVERLOADING: EXPLORING THE PROMISE AND PROBLEMS OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION TO REDUCE INFORMATION OVERLOAD 203 -- Jeanne Mengis and Martin J. Eppler -- 10.1 The Qualitative Side of Information Overload 204 -- 10.2 Causes of Information Overload 206 -- 10.3 How Information Visualization Can Improve the Quality of Information and Reduce Information Overload 208 -- 10.4 Using Visualization in Practice: Understanding the Knowing-Doing Gap 209 -- 10.5 Methods and Context of the Study 211 -- 10.5.1 Measures 211 -- 10.5.2 Procedure and Analysis 213 -- 10.6 Indications of the Knowing-Doing Gap: Visuals Are Valued, but Poorly Used 214 -- 10.7 Understanding the Knowing-Doing Gap with TAM 214 -- 10.8 Discussion 216 -- 10.9 Conclusion 217 -- 10.10 Future Research Directions 218 -- 10A.1 Appendix 219 -- References 222 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM ALVOGEN 227 -- The Challenges of Information Overload 227 -- Strategies for Dealing with Information Overload 228 -- 11 DROWNING IN DATA: A REVIEWOF INFORMATION OVERLOAD WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS AND THE VIABILITY OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES 231 -- David Remund and Debashis “Deb” Aikat -- 11.1 Introduction 232 -- 11.2 Defining Information Overload within Organizations 232 -- 11.3 Evolution of the Information Overload Concept in Organizations 234 -- 11.4 Implications of Information Overload within Organizations 235 -- 11.4.1 Organizational Implications 235 -- 11.4.2 Employee Implications 237 -- 11.5 Traditional Strategies for Addressing Information Overload 238 -- 11.5.1 Organizational Strategies 238 -- 11.5.2 Individual Strategies 239.

11.6 Strategic Communication Principles: A Viable Solution? 240 -- 11.7 Putting Strategic Communication into Practice 242 -- 11.8 Further Research 243 -- 11.9 Conclusion 243 -- References 243 -- PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE DUTCH EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION 247 -- Acting as an Information Resource 248 -- Focusing on the Added Value of Information 248 -- Co-Creating Added Value in Interaction with Companies 249 -- A Final Observation 250 -- References 250 -- 12 BLINDFOLDED THROUGH THE INFORMATION HURRICANE? A REVIEW OF A MANAGER'S STRATEGY TO COPE WITH THE INFORMATION PARADOX 251 -- Arjen Verhoeff -- 12.1 Introduction 252 -- 12.2 Decomposing the Information Paradox 253 -- 12.2.1 The Control of the Internal Information Process 253 -- 12.2.2 The Control of the External Information Process 254 -- 12.3 A Framework to Analyze the Information Paradox 255 -- 12.3.1 Do Managers Experience Issues Regarding Information? 257 -- 12.3.2 Do Managers Use an Information Strategy? 257 -- 12.3.3 Do Managers Use a Strategy to Transform Information into Added Value? 257 -- 12.4 Illustrating the Framework with Some Dutch Empirical Evidence 258 -- 12.4.1 The Importance of an Information Strategy 258 -- 12.4.2 Preliminary Survey Among Dutch Managers 259 -- 12.5 Discussion and Conclusion: Lessons in Information Strategy 260 -- 12.5.1 Discussion 260 -- 12.5.2 Methodological Grounding 261 -- 12.5.3 Learning Points 261 -- 12.5.4 Applied Innovative Directions 262 -- 12.5.5 Toward an Innovative Research Agenda 264 -- 12.5.6 General Conclusion 264 -- References 265 -- List of References for Boxed Quotations 267 -- Author Index 269 -- Subject Index 275.