The World As Information
Overload and Personal Design
Abstract
This book takes a very broad view of information, and considers it as a phenomenon in its own right, rather than the technology for handling it. It is very much concerned with the meaning of information, and what we as individuals do with it.
There is a growing public interest in information as a commodity, arising from the success of the Internet and the World Wide Web and from increased awareness of problems arising from information overload. Despite this interest, there is little general understanding of how information can be structured and accessed. The World as Information tackles this by discussing the impact of information upon the individual in terms of overload and stimulation of ambition and creativity.
The need to coordinate information into structured knowledge is seen as crucial: in the final chapter, the novel situation of the availability of all information, to the individual and to the overall structure of knowledge is looked at. The book is extensively referenced.
