Healthier Informationusing "Quantified Self” methods to address Information Anxiety

Tim McCormickHighWire | Stanford University@mccormicktim / tim@tjm.org

QS Show & Tell, March 28, 2012Google West Campus 5, Mountain View, CA

DRAFT

My QS investigation:

1. Examine every media source and signal in my life.

2. Measure how much of my attention it gets.

3. Consider whether it gets the right amount of my attention

(based on my priorities and values).

4. Shift attention to the higher-value signals.

5. Build, Measure, Learn. Repeat.

First, kill all the Alerts

those red numbers

are anxiety-inducing

(by design)

Try turning them off wherever possible, and see if you actuallymiss anything.

Intervention #2: Tim's Lower-Anxiety Gmail

1. Soothing color palette • 2. G+ notifications disabled

• 3. "Important" folder on top. Only 10 mails in last 4 days

• 4. Personal & work mail managed, prioritized in 1 place

• .. but most importantly, shut it off for 2-4 hours at a time to focus!

Results of my media analysis:

[insert chart here: my graph of assessed media / signal-source benefit vs. efficiency = value.

Television, radio, newspapers, Web sites, movies, telephone conversation, face-to-face conversation, email, Google Reader / RSS, Twitter, etc.

Next page: highlight upper right quadrant: label – “shift attention to the high-value signals”

Metric: value per second of attention paid

The Problem of Information Anxiety

Richard Saul Wurman,1989

Information work often = plate-spinning

All the plates must be keptspinning

You might getin the flow -- but are you inthe right game?

Good Information & Good Health

"X Prize Foundation Offers

$10 Million For a Tricorder

to Diagnose Patients"

(May 2011)

I work on "Tricorders" for

your information diet: diagnose and address your knowledge state.

Clay Johnson, The Information Diet2012

Information Habits Impact Health

• Better information allows better health decisions

• Higher productivity gives you better job options. If managed well, can help you achieve work-life balance.

• Greater mindfulness lowers stress, helps prioritization, aids job satisfaction and task completion.

Example #2:

Google Reader, a primary news information channel for me. Also, an example of information signals gone wrong

[insert images showing interface with unread story count, “deprecated folder”].

Story of “deprecating” sources to cut down information intake, but it backfires. Now I always go to these sources first to cut down the “unread” count faster. => Google Reader’s signals / quantification leads me to exactly the wrong behavior. Powerful, even when I’m aware of the problem.

Example #3:

“Value per second of attention” turns out tobe a very helpful analysis in my work also: developing tools / products for readers & researchers, at Stanford HighWire Press.

Example: new journal, Bone & Joint 360.motto: “6 issues/year, 60 minutes to read each”

[screenshot, non-painful slide design here]

Business maxim: "Organize Around Priorities”(from Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Business maxim: "Organize Around Priorities”(from Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

=> Informational version:

Organize your Signals to Serve your Priorities

The Buddha: "Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice."

The Buddha: "Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice."

Today: "Connection is inevitable but distraction is a choice."

• (Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, ContemplativeComputing.org).

Thank You.

Questions?

Tim McCormickHighWire | Stanford University@mccormicktim / tim@tjm.org,

QS Show & Tell, March 28, 2012