Cory shared this link on Boing Boing to a talk by Clay Shirky at Web 2.0 Expo NY.
This talk hits on any number of compelling points. He clearly debunks the notion that information abundance is entirely new. Beyond the explanation of how filter failure leads to the feeling of being overwhelmed, he provides a clear economic explanation of why filters worked better in the past and the challenges we have yet to solve now that the ability to publish has been radically distributed.
This also feels like a strong corollary to the problem of discovery, sort of inverse of overload. When I want to find new music, a new book, it often feels not like I am overwhelmed but that there is a vacuum of reliable leads to make such discoveries.
I am sure many of his examples and contentions can be further debated but I think he succeeds at framing out a useful way of thinking about the problem, regardless.
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