ReadWriteWeb

This is post #2 of a 2-part post on today's information overload problem and how we can cope. Please read part 1 here.

The information overload problem has reached a critical point. Workers drowning in their inboxes and jumping from task to task have now cost the nation $650 billion in lost productivity. A research group attempting to understand and combat the problem has recently been formed. We can either wait for answers for them, or we can start finding solutions ourselves. Let's do what social media addicts do best: let's crowdsource this thing!

A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals that 46% of Americans have used the Internet, email, or text messaging to get or share election information this year. 35% have watched online political videos -- triple the number that watched video online in 2004, while 39%, according to the study, have turned to the web for "unfiltered" campaign information, such as raw video or transcripts of speeches and debates. But Americans aren't convinced that all this social media business is a good thing for politics.

The US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has apparently decided to end its policy of taking a "digital snapshot" of all public congressional and federal web sites after each congressional and presidential term. According to NARA, which is understandably drawing heat for the policy change, they shouldn't need to archive those web sites because federal agencies and congress should be doing their own archiving. I read about NARA after reading a very timely piece from Leland Rucker about the nature of information archiving in a totally digital world, and it got me wondering: what happens to all this content on the web 250 years in the future?