Information Overload

As I write this post I am watching TV, having a chat with a friend on Facebook, listening to a song on iTunes, while downloading more songs and I wonder why my computer is slow while trying to search the internet for articles on Multitasking. I am a chronic mutlitasker! It is very true that although you are performing all these activities at once, none of these activities are being performed to a high standard. It’s what Linda Stone calls, continual partial attention (cpa). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-stone/fine-dining-with-mobile-d_b_80819.html. Okay so I’ve muted the TV and paused my music. I can try to concentrate now. I think that is the only way to deal with cpa is to do just that, turn off all the other programs and focus on what you are doing. As a teacher I am very aware that children think they can do a number of tasks at once but it is important to teach students the effects of multitasking.
Another problem facing everyone using the internet is information overload. There is so much on the internet, where do students begin. First students have to possess sufficient information literacy to determine what sites are reliable secondly they need to be able to source and store the relevant sites. There are a number of programs that can be used to help internet users with this. Folksonomies are a great tool to help tag and bookmark relevant information on the internet. Students could set up a delicious site http://delicious.com/ at the start of a project and use it to bookmark relevant information. I would even assess their delicious account at the end of the project.
RRS feeds are a great way to get relevant news continually updated. If a student is studying a particular topic they could find an RRS feed and tailor it to their specific news. Students could study current events or track the progress of an issue in the news. Creating awareness of these sites will benefit students for years to come.
Network filtering is used by schools and in some offices to block the access to particular websites. In my part time job Facebook has been blocked  which irritates the staff immensely. To be honest we probably get more work done. Network filtering is done in schools for this reason. It also helps to stop cyberbullying, cyber predators and students stumbling upon unwanted materials. However, if a student was desperate enough to visit certain material they would find a way. Network filtering could be useful to help stop multitasking on the internet and focus student attention on the research or job at hand.