Hakia.com, the company that sent this, hakia.com that calls itself as a new meaning-based search engine, says the survy shows that 63.1% oof the respondans find they get too much information and 24.2% of respondents cannot get the information they want. The way I read it, a whopping 43.6% actually may get too much information, but they get what they want and another 17.4% is happy, so that 61% gets the information they want. But I guess that's fun with numbers... " />
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TMI, or Just Information You Can't Find?

Posted by: Heather Green on August 28

Pretty much everyone I know complains about TMI, or too much information. But when I stop to think about it, what really bothers me is not all the information. I am really happy for all the information that’s out there. It’s just that I often have a hard time finding the things I found in the past. I know, that’s what delicious and bookmarks are for. But it’s also, I would think, what my memory’s for. And I think that when I could concentrate on information more, pouring over it, I could remember it better than now, when I flit from one interesting data point to to another.

But on the subject on informaation, I found some survey results that popped in my inbox today interesting. Hakia.com, a meaning-based search engine that sent this survey says it shows that 63.1% oof the respondans find they get too much information and 24.2% of respondents cannot get the information they want.

The way I read it, a whopping 43.6% actually may get too much information, but they get what they want and another 17.4% is happy, so that 61% gets the information they want. But I guess that’s fun with numbers…

Q: When you consider information access today, do you get:

Just the right amount, and I find something useful 17.4%
Too much information, but I get what I want 43.6%
Too much information, and I can’t get what I want 19.5%
Not enough information, but I can find something useful 14.8%
Not enough information, and I can’t get what I want 4.7%
None of the above

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Reader Comments

steve baker

August 28, 2007 09:29 AM

Heather, I think I'm in the second group. Too much, but I get what I want. But it could be better. Think of all the information that we don't get that we don't know we need.

Nathan B

August 28, 2007 04:48 PM

2 personal pet peeves in finding info:

1) Finding the same information over and over and over again. On some items it appears one (semi-) reliable source posted the original information and everyone who uses it just reposts the same info verbatim - ugh.

2) Page titles that have little to do with the page content. This is particularly true on store sites or other sites trying to get the proper hits on search engines - the headlines for each page end up being the same despite their disparate content and so I'll have 3-10 bookmarks from the same site, on different information and unless I go and modify each listing individually they'll all have the same heads.

KindAndThoughtful

August 28, 2007 05:07 PM

Thank you for the great post.

There is a new free, non-profit online encyclopedia called the Citizendium. It is a wiki but requires contributors to use their real names. They are trying to raise the bar for quality and accuracy.

The link is:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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