Another question that the editors of Cabling Installation & Maintenance have been examining recently is how our readers handle the buzz of information that assails them every day and whether they are feeling overloaded by it. At a conference held not long ago by bicsi, the audience for a talk on the so-called infoglut problem was asked to fill out a survey on their information needs and habits. A total of 82 members of the audience returned the survey form.
The results of this survey suggest that there is, indeed, a problem with information management in the cabling industry. For example, 77% of the survey respondents said they personally subscribed to a cabling-industry magazine, but only 43% said they read it from cover to cover each month. Almost three-quarters (71%) of those filling out the survey form claimed that they received more information during each workday than they could readily cope with, and almost two-thirds (65%) admitted that it was increasingly difficult to sort out what was significant from information that was trivial.
Here are some other important statistics from the "infoglut" survey:
-Number of respondents reading a paid-subscription cabling-industry newsletter (54%)
Percentage of respondents using books in their work (87%)
-Those using audiovisual training aids or computer-based training in self-study or correspondence courses over previous six months to increase job knowledge (71%)
-Respondents attending distributor or manufacturer training in last six months (71%)
-Survey participants undergoing computer or software upgrade in last six months (93%)
-Those using voicemail at work (89%)
-Those using electronic mail at work (85%)
-Those with Internet access at work (51%)
The survey also elicited many thoughtful comments, among them:
-"I can`t wait for `news-on-demand` based on searching wire services by keyword."
-"It is our challenge to sort through and decide what information is valuable and what is not. Bring on the information!"
-"The public library system has had the Dewey Decimal System for many years. Is it difficult to apply a similar type of cataloging system to electronic information? Why have we not seen it yet?"
-"I am beginning to use information-filtering techniques: I sort e-mails into folders based on information type; I respond to voicemail based on customer priorities or needs; I keep databases on important customers that detail historical response information."
-"How can we make use of information to make life simpler rather than adding increased complexity?"
-"The quantity of information that can be absorbed is limited by time. I could spend all my working time absorbing information."
-"`Infoglut?` `Info flood.` It all amounts to the same thing: too much extraneous information, too little time."