The Too Much Information Problem
January 9th, 2010 Posted in Boomer News, Limits of Growth, TV News MediaOkay kids lets move onto one of our other blog subjects of interest. It is estimated that 1,000,000 books are written every year. And wouldn’t you agree that it’s next to impossible to review even the most miniscule part of the any of the scientific disciplines from the 100,000,000 scientific articles generated per year? And it’s probably not possibly to calculate how much new information is put on the Internet in a year. There is a lot of important information beamed out to the general public that can’t surface because of all the chit-chat that is flooding the airwaves … and print material.
I’ve been pushing for a TV channel dedicated to presenting the news of the most critical national & world longer term problems that need the attention of our leaders and the general public. It’s been an objective of mine for 35 years and kids, it’s obvious I haven’t had any success with the objective. Maybe one of you eleven grandchildren has an interest in journalism and can help me out.
Well, I checked over the 250 plus blogs we have written over the past 3 plus years and I was surprised we have written over 10 blogs on the need to present the most significant national & world measurable issues to the public on a continuous basis to achieve continuous measurable improvement … using graphs and charts.
On the next blog we will update “Why do journalist & politicians avoid graphs?” blog that is in our August 2009 archive.
2 Responses to “The Too Much Information Problem”
By kathie mason on Jan 12, 2010
Sir if you ever are successful in your endeavor, I will be an avid viewer and supporter! As a librarian, I have dedicated myself to seeking a solution to ‘information overload’. Not a day goes by that I do not lament the lack of a ‘channel’ for facts…not opinion or hypothesis or speculation…but information unadulterated by politics, religious affiliation and other biases. I took an introductory journalism class and I understand just how difficult it is to ‘report the facts’ without inserting one’s flavor, yet I do not think this is true root cause of why we cannot find unbiased information. Ultimately, when a gross majority of media outlets are owned and controlled by a tiny number of large companies/corporations (who have stockholders and more importantly advertisers to please) unfettered access to information is limited. What newspaper is going to print a scathing expose of a company when that company makes up a significant portion of said newspaper’s advertising revenue??? What journalist is going to put his/her career on the line to uncover the wrongdoings of the mayor, who also is on the board of the newspaper???? EEK!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!! I hope one day your wish comes true for everyone’s sake!
By george on Jan 13, 2010
Hello Kathie. I thank you for the encouragement. I think the readership of my blog is only about 30 people. I don’t try to make money on the blog. It’s for the kids. The range of our 11 grandchildren is 3 to 18. I started this blog a little over 3 years ago in hopes that it would encourage them to be curious, imaginitive and want to learn the facts. I had dyslexia as a child and was a poor reader. My mother knew I wasn’t getting much out of books, so we had great one-on-one talks about many interesting subjects when I was young. Some how I made it into a community night college and become an engineer. I spent my career reading reference books. When I gathered for lunch my PhD colleagues and they discussed the latest novels they had read … I was silent and embarrassed because I never read any fictional novels during my career. I never spent time with the librarian looking for a good book to read. Since retiring I have the time. I do get to the book stores about once a week. It still amazes me how small the science section is in book stores like Borders or Barnes and Noble. Don’t get me wrong, I do like good fictional stories, but the overload of “chit-chat” books make me wonder why people avoid what is happening around them? I agree with all your comments on the general overload of information, when the human race is facing so many unsustantainable situatons. If you have any ideas why a TV station I describe might happen … or not happen, I’d like to hear yor comments.
George