Communications and the flood of information

We live with too much information. Perhaps work rather than live - the individual can choose what their information landscape looks like outside of work. Here's something of a taxonomy (in our school; likely somewhat similar in many schools):

• email (access anywhere, anytime)
• online calendars
• portals (e.g. compass)
• intranet/websites
• social media
• files on a computer
• cloud based files/applications
• smartphone apps
• tablet apps
• paper-based chronicles
• books

Compare to 5 years ago:

• email (access at laptop on desk, probably wired connection)
• paper-based chronicles
• books
• files on a computer
• intranet/websites
• social media

Compare to 10 years ago:

• email (access via PC)
• paper-based chronicles
• books
• files on a computer

As the process has been quite gradual, there hasn't really been any discussion on the implications of this, nor training on how to manage the flood. This is certainly a workload issue, but for many the situation exists outside of work, or the demarcation of work blurs (this is an issue in itself). And it's not only the implications and training of staff - this applies as much to students.

A major concern here is the signal-to-noise ratio. The noise is both getting more frequent (more communications occuring), and stronger (every communication fighting to stand out). So we end up missing things, and the cycle feeds back into itself. Finding the signal in the noise takes time and energy. There are two possible ways forward: decrease the noise, or filter the noise. The former comes from training, etiquette, and careful selection of systems (perhaps cutting out systems). The latter - training people how to use systems more effectively, and employing smarter/better suited systems.

A (perhaps more important concern) is determining if the flood of information is worth it. And if it's not, whether it can be stopped (you can't stop progress).

This issue will be the focus of discussion for much of the coming year.