[ExI] Bandwidth of Information Gleaning

[Jef Allbright]

On 5/4/07, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> I found it very slow paced. Now, I myself happen to be able---under
> some conditions---to absorb knowledge via straightforward, old-
> fashioned, outmoded, linear text. I am afraid that music and animation
> for the most part add nothing to my learning. Moreover, they can in
> some cases, such as in the above flash animation, actually *decrease*
> knowledge acquisition and comprehension per unit of time expended.
> In short, I became impatient during the ten minute presentation.
>
> Did anyone else experience my frustration?  On the other hand, are
> there testimonials as to the effectiveness of said presentation?

It depends very much on the nature of the audience.  For me there are
very few joys greater than integrating new knowledge, the more widely
applicable in principle the better, succinctly written.  Such writing
is like poetry to me, each word performing its intended function
within a structure elegant at multiple levels.  I imagine a
near-optimum format of intertwingled hypertext with link emphasis
corresponding to awareness of the reader's background (take a quiz
before reading, remember the results for a future context?)

I find that nearly all television is too inefficient and distracting
with its multitude of hooks to the lowest levels of human biases, most
books are so redundantly redundant that I find myself repeatedly
skimming for significant content rather than fully engaged in reading,
and with live lectures or classroom-style training I often find more
of interest in the audience interactions than in the primary content.

Good Dog, save us from regression to the mean!  Praise Google and
better tools to come!

- Jef