Information Overload: An International Challenge for Professional Engineers and Technical Communicators [Paperback]

This book covers the ever-increasing problem of information overload from both the professional and academic perspectives. Focusing on the needs of practicing engineers and professional communicators, it addresses the causes and costs of information overload, along with strategies and techniques for reducing and minimizing its negative effects. The theoretical framework of information overload and ideas for future research are also presented. The book brings together an international group of authors, providing a truly global point of view on this important, rarely covered topic.

List of Practical Insights from Corporations xv

List of Figures xvii

List of Tables xix

Foreword xxi

Preface xxvii

Acknowledgments xxix

A Note from the Series Editor xxxi

Contributors xxxiii

About the Editors xxxvii

1 INFORMATION OVERLOAD: AN INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE TO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATORS 1
Judith B. Strother, Jan M. Ulijn, and Zohra Fazal

1.1 Definitions, Causes, and Consequences of Information Overload 1

1.1.1 Definitions of Information Overload 1

1.1.2 Causes of Information Overload 2

1.1.3 Consequences of Information Overload 3

1.2 Perspectives on the Concept of Information Overload 4

1.2.1 An Information and Time-Management Perspective 5

1.2.2 A Supplier/Producer/Writer and Client/User/Reader Perspective 5

1.2.3 An International/Intercultural Perspective 7

1.2.4 An Innovation Perspective 7

1.3 Readers of this Book 7

1.4 Structure of this Book 8

1.4.1 Section I: Causes and Costs of Information Overload 8<