The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies
Contenu
Titre
The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other paradoxes and pathologies
Journal of Information Science
Créateur
David Bawden
Lyn Robinson
Sujet
Web 2.0
digital literacy
information anxiety
information overload
paradox of choice
satisficing
Résumé
This review article identifies and discusses some of main issues and potential problems — paradoxes and pathologies — around the communication of recorded information, and points to some possible solutions. The article considers the changing contexts of information communication, with some caveats about the identification of `pathologies of information', and analyses the changes over time in the way in which issues of the quantity and quality of information available have been regarded. Two main classes of problems and issues are discussed. The first comprises issues relating to the quantity and diversity of information available: information overload, information anxiety, etc. The second comprises issues relating to the changing information environment with the advent of Web 2.0: loss of identity and authority, emphasis on micro-chunking and shallow novelty, and the impermanence of information. A final section proposes some means of solution of problems and of improvements to the situation.
volume
35
numéro
2
pages
180-191
Date
2009
Titre abrégé
Journal of Information Science
The dark side of information
Langue
en
doi
10.1177/0165551508095781
issn
0165-5515, 1741-6485