Starr R. Hiltz
Abstract
Unless computer-mediated communication systems are structured, users will be overloaded with information. But structure should be imposed by individuals and user groups according to their needs and abilities, rather than through general software features.
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Index Terms
- Structuring computer-mediated communication systems to avoid information overload
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Reviews
Lenore Paula Weiss
If the authors of this paper get abominably academic at times (longitudinal data and curvilinear patterns of association), it is primarily as researchers who want to contribute something concrete to the field of electronic communication. But they have such thought provoking ideas, I forgive them. Both authors have been directly involved with EIES (Electronic Information Exchange System), operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Turoff originally modeled and designed the system after existing forms of scientific communication. Over the years, the authors also have been involved with other electronic conferencing systems that can be yours for the price of a 300 baud modem and an ID number. Hiltz and Turoff observed participants of such CMCSs (Computer-Mediated Communication Systems) being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of online information. In the world of the senders who send information, and the receivers who receive information, the authors suggest giving the receivers more options to process incoming information according to their own patterns of use. Hiltz and Turoff council against trying to control content. What is one person's flea market, say the authors, can be another's gold mine. There's a loose end in this discussion, however. The paper has the taste of being motivated, in part, by a rivalry of ideas in the electronic information community. Hiltz and Turoff disagree with the exhortation that successful models of nonelectronic communication can be used as models for CMCSs. I don't understand why we need to reject metaphors from other areas.
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