What’s info pollution?

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Information pollution is a phrase used to describe the flood of data in human consciousness every day. This flow of information is often unsolicited and ultimately distracting. These assaults on the senses are often discussed in the context of Internet usability, but they also exist in other forms of media.

Often the most feared of all forms of information pollution is spam. This nuisance, aptly named after a Monty Python sketch in which corned beef was mentioned more than 70 times, was once limited in scope to emails. This definition has now been expanded to cover unwanted messages received in any digital format, including text messages and instant messages (IMs). At best, these interactions are unsolicited chain letters or advertisements masquerading as vital messages. Occasionally, they can be cleverly orchestrated fraud attempts.

Although email has become more manageable with the advent of spam blockers, the average employee is expected to spend more than an hour a day sorting through email messages. Often this waste is caused by a bit of computer programming innocently labeled the “send to all” feature. Often, memos and notices that apply only to certain employees or departments are distributed this way by the author. This causes a specialized form of information pollution, where employees must read every email or risk losing information that may be vital to them.

In addition to email messages, workers who use the Internet for research are often exposed to distracting advertisements, overwritten websites, and misleading search results. In the spring of 2011, the most used search engine on the Internet instigated a radical change in the way it ranked search results in an attempt to reduce this form of information pollution. In general, sites that relied on advertising revenue and had a large number of pages were labeled “content farms”. The positions of these sites in search engine results subsequently dropped. The biggest observable impact of this change has been an increase in the search ranking of smaller, overwritten sites with similarly misleading search results and distracting ads.

Information overload can also be attributed to extremely detailed news reports. In the past, news broadcasts were limited to half an hour at night or a minute or two between songs on the radio. These time constraints forced reporters to provide only the most important facts about an event. Today, several television networks work to broadcast stories around the clock. This often produces information clutter, providing a level of detail that the average person does not need and may have difficulty processing.

Asset Smart.

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