I’ve talked about attention and multitasking before.  But I’ve just been reading about a new study at Stanford University [PDF, 157Kb] about media multitasking that sheds further light on multitasking abilities. Researchers found that our response to how we multi-task can help or hinder just as much as the multitasking itself.

Scientific American reports on the findings by Ophir, Nass & Wagner [PDF, 660Kb]:

“It seems that chronic media-multitaskers are more susceptible to distractions. In contrast, people who do not usually engage in media-multitasking showed a greater ability to focus on important information. According to the researchers, this reflects two fundamentally different strategies of information processing. Those who engage in media-multitasking more frequently are ‘breadth-biased,’ preferring to explore any available information rather than restrict themselves. As Lin Lin at the University of North Texas puts it in a review of the article, they develop a habit of treating all information equally. On the other extreme are those who avoid breadth in favour of information that is relevant to an immediate goal.

“So what does this mean for you, reading this blog while checking your stocks and playing solitaire? Are you in trouble? Should you curb your media congestion? Not necessarily. Breadth-bias may still serve a purpose in our media-heavy society…In our fast-paced and technologically advancing society, it may be that having a single goal on which to focus our efforts is a luxury. We may often be better served by a control strategy that is cued by the demands of our surroundings. Look around yourself – do you see notes and to-do lists? Piles of objects meant to remind you about tasks and goals? These sorts of reminders are a great way to take advantage of bottom-up attentional control, and this type of control might in fact be more influential in our lives than we realize.”

[Scientific American: Portrait of a Multitasking Mind, Kenner & Poldrack]

So if you’re into multitasking, but it seems to cause you problems further down the line, it may be worth refocusing rather than reducing the number of tasks you’re working on.

Apparently, ‘information’ is causing trouble.

I found the following piece of text in an academic paper on institutional research, but thought it useful to point out here:

“The distinction between data and information, on the one hand, and between information and knowledge, on the other, remains typically vague and problematic.  Disciplined use of these terms remains unresolved, giving rise to the substitution of ‘data’ for ‘information’ and the conflation of ‘information’ with ‘knowledge’ even though few would argue that ‘knowledge’ could ever be reduced to data.  Nevertheless ‘data’ and ‘knowledge’ are unwittingly brought together by having the term ‘information’ act as an informal intermediate.”

[Bernard Longden & Mantz Yorke – Institutional Research: What problems are we trying to solve?]

Might make you think differently about ‘information overload‘.

Blogging is dead…no it’s not.  Generation Y exists…no it doesn’t.  Students want to use Twitter…no they don’t.

Look around and it’s likely you’ll see opposing views being touted on almost every imaginable topic.  Statistics can prove almost anything you argue to be correct in one way or another.  You can base an opinion around any story if it fits what you believe.

Rather than search for a right answer and a wrong answer, you may do better to make a bold argument that you can back up strongly.  It’s not about proving something right, it’s about reaching a reasonably thought out opinion/conclusion with a clear thought process.

You don’t need to be arrogant and there’s no reason to suggest your way is the only way.  That’s not what being bold is about.  A bold answer is clear, confident, and not afraid to face up to different ways of thinking.

It’s the strength of your overview and your understanding around a debate that will help you stand out in a crowd where everyone has the (different) right answer.

Answers don’t cosily fit into right and wrong categories.  So how do you best contend with this in your work?

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Also, don’t you think BOLD is one of those words that doesn’t look like a word, the more you look at it?

10 more resources for you to indulge in.  Let’s go!

1. Economist – A world of hits

We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to films, music, books, and so on.  Entertainment is easy to come by.  But it seems we still pick up on what’s popular and lap it up even more.  Just as it seemed the blockbuster was a thing of the past, runaway successes are becoming even more popular.  At the same time, less popular things are suffering:

“A show that reaches 10m Americans today is worth a lot more than a show that reached 10m at the beginning of this decade. Simon Cowell, the star judge on ‘American Idol’, reportedly renewed his contract earlier this year for more than $100m over three seasons. He is probably worth it.”

2. Independent – Time to wave goodbye to old-fashioned lecture notes

How’s this for a way of getting good, quick, solid feedback to your work?

3. Wired – Do Speedy Math in Your Head

Calculators aren’t hard to come by now. Just whip out your mobile phone and there’s a calculator function for you.  Sorted.  But if you’re stuck for that, or want to impress someone with your mathematical abilities (or need to learn a few techniques for an exam that doesn’t allow a calculator…) you can get some helpful tips here.

4. PickTheBrain – 8 Reasons We Don’t Do Things We Should and How To Break the Mould

Is the easy road really that easy?  A challenging path can take you much further and it could be easier than you imagine.

5. From PsyBlog – The Chameleon Effect

“In some senses, when two people are really getting along, their feet-waggling and face-touching in perfect harmony, it’s like they’ve hypnotised each other.”

6. Scott Young – The 10 Really Obvious Ways to Be More Productive

Advice doesn’t need to be complicated.  The clearer points are just as important.  I try to follow much of the advice given in Scott’s post, but it’s way too late for me to follow the first productivity tip.  I’m fine with that; I wouldn’t have it any other way…

7. TwiTip – 8 Characters to Make Your Tweets Sparkle

Want to know how to type out characters like • and ♥ and ♫?  This article over at TwiTip shows you how.  Then again, there’s always Tweet Smarter if you want an online interface to Tweet special characters.

8. MakeUseOf.com – Some Cool Keyboard Tricks That Few People Know About

More keyboard productivity goodness.  Some Windows tips and some for Firefox.  Well worth learning (or bookmarking!).

9. Martin Hall – Teaching and Learning Revisited

The Vice-Chancellor of Salford publishes various responses he’s had on matters such as:

• Is a student a customer?
• How should great teaching be recognised?
• What makes a good university?
• What (and who) are universities for?

10. The American Scholar – The Decline of the English Department

A lengthy article on the changing state of undergraduate education in the US.  A massive drop in those studying humanities and a huge increase in those studying business.  Guess what? Among others things, money plays a big part in the changes.  As the cost of education increases, study becomes more about future career prospects than the pursuit of learning.  And while scientists are bringing in money, humanists are consuming money.

An excerpt:

“Meanwhile, undergraduates have become aware of this turmoil surrounding them in classrooms, hallways, and coffee lounges. They see what is happening to students only a few years older than themselves—the graduate students they encounter as teaching assistants, freshman instructors, or ‘acting assistant professors.’ These older students reveal to them a desolate scene of high career hopes soon withered, much study, little money, and heavy indebtedness. In English, the average number of years spent earning a doctoral degree is almost 11. After passing that milestone, only half of new Ph.D.’s find teaching jobs, the number of new positions having declined over the last year by more than 20 percent; many of those jobs are part-time or come with no possibility of tenure. News like that, moving through student networks, can be matched against, at least until recently, the reputed earning power of recent graduates of business schools, law schools, and medical schools. The comparison is akin to what young people growing up in Rust Belt cities are forced to see: the work isn’t here anymore; our technology is obsolete.”