Introduction

Abstract

Words and phrases like information age, information revolution, and infosphere have been thrown about so much over the past decade that any new phrase using the word information or its derivatives has begun to sound like a cliché. Yet the past decade has probably seen more information generated than ever before in any similar period in human history. In today’s age, information is often a commodity and an asset, much like more traditional physical assets. Having the right information at the right time is of critical importance to all kinds of organizations and individuals, from large corporations to the armed forces, to the tourist looking for the nearest metro station. However, the increasing amount of information often leads to information overload, where one is expected to retrieve the right needle of information from the proverbial haystack. Thus, many like Denning have argued that as much attention needs to be paid to the receiving of information as to the generating of it.