hacking your head - managing information overload (45 mix)

Jo Pearce

@jdpearce jopearce.co.uk

Non-binary (they/them), developer and science womble.

Hacking Your Head

Managing Information Overload

http://jopearce.co.uk

Hacking Your Head : Managing Information Overload


Making good use of the things that we find,Things that the everyday folk leave behind




All the electronics around you poisoning the airwaves.

Information overload!

But we still have all this shit, because we can't live without it

Technological f***ing civilisation!




Surviving the collision with tomorrow




there are discoverable limits to the amount of change that the human organism can absorbwithout first determining these limits we may submit masses of [people] to demands they simply cannot tolerate.

Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, 1970)




Information Overload

Anxiety

Hostility

Senseless Violence

Physical Illness

Depression

Apathy




Orientation Response&

Adaptive Reaction




Orientation ResponsePupils dilate

Hearing becomes more acute

Muscles tense

Blood rushes to the head

Breathing and heart rate alter




Adaptive Reaction

Increased metabolism

Raised blood pressure

Energy reserves are run down




Stress!




A soldier falls asleep while a storm of machine gun bullets splattered around him not due to physical tiredness, but a sense of overpowering apathy.

Soldiers became hypersensitive and would hit the dirt at the slightest stimuli, increasingly showing anxiety and anger at the slightest inconvenience.

The effects of overload in WWII




The overwhelming office?




the [orientation response] occurs not merely in response to simple sensory inputs.

It happens when we come across novel ideas or information as well

Alvin Toffler (Future Shock, 1970)




20 million words of new technical information are recorded each day.

Jackson, W. (2001). Information overload and managerial roles: A naturalistic study of engineers.

At 1000 words/minute, 8 hours/day this is six weeks of reading.




After reading the information for that one day you would have fallen behind by 5.5 years!

Jackson, W. (2001). Information overload and managerial roles: A naturalistic study of engineers.




Information Fatigue Syndrome

Poor Concentration Hurry Sickness

Pervasive Hostility

Stress Depression

Lowered Immune Response

Burn out

Ruff, J. (2002). Information Overload: Causes, Symptoms and Solutions. Harvard Graduate School of Educations Learning Innovations Laboratory (LILA)




There is always a lot to learn

Information overload is a learning problem!




How do we learn?




Working Memory Long Term Memory




Working MemoryProcesses Information

Active Thinking & Learning

Visual & auditory subcomponents




Long Term Memory

Enormous Capacity

Cannot engage in thinking or learning processes




Results of learning

Knowledge Retrieval




Attention

Elaboration-Rehearsal

Encoding

The Learning Process




Attention is critical to processing information.

In 1972 an Eastern Airlines flight crashedas a result of cockpit distractions.

The crew became so preoccupied with a malfunction that no one noticed the altimeter reading or warnings until it was too late




We can help focus attention with cues and signals.e.g.

It is important to note that

Bullet points!

Paragraphs and HeadingsVisual indicators

Signalling language -




Attention & The Modality Effect

#+




Elaboration-Rehearsal helps promote Automaticity.

Writing

Reading

Speaking

Skills that become automatic require little or no processing in the working memory. Such as :




Chunks andRecoding

0820987908

0123456789

Numbers




Chunks andRecoding

ATCJEPWMFP

PUZZLEMENT

Characters




Chunks andRecoding

0820987908 0123456789

ATCJEPWMFP PUZZLEMENT




Chunks andRecoding

Compression algorithms for your memory!




Schemas

Multiple Elements Single Schema




Novice Learner Schemas




Experienced Learner Schemas




De Groot (1965)

Chess players were presented with brief presentations of boards from actual games. After removing the board, they were asked to reconstruct the positions.

Chess masters recalled the positions with 91% accuracy compared to the 43% accuracy of less expert players.




Understanding Our Limitations




The Magical Number 7 2 (George A. Miller, 1956)

http://jopearce.co.ukhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two




Working Memory

Information In





Overloaded Working Memory

Information In




The Magical (but finite) Number X?




George A. Miller

the point was that 7 was a limit for the discrimination of unidimensional stimuli (pitches, loudness, brightness, etc.) and also a limit for immediate recall, neither of which has anything to do with a person's capacity to comprehend printed text.




Schema=

Novice Experienced




How do we work with our limitations?




Cognitive Science 12 (2), June 1988John Sweller

Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning.




Cognitive Load Theory




Defines cognitive load as the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory

Describes a universal set of evidence-based principles for managing cognitive load that lead to efficient learning.

What is Cognitive Load Theory?




Total cognitive load is comprised of three types:

Intrinsic Load

Extraneous (Irrelevant) Load

Germane (Relevant) Load




Imposed by the inherent complexity of the task being performed.

e.g.

Learning to juggle 10 balls is inherently more complex than learning to juggle 3.

Intrinsic Load




Imposed by the inherent complexity of the task being performed.

Manage by breaking large tasks into smaller ones!

Intrinsic Load




Leverage the concept of chunking.

Intrinsic Load




Intrinsic Load

Beware Dunning-Kruger syndrome




Intrinsic Load

Epic

User Story User StoryUser Story

TaskTaskTask TaskTaskTaskTaskTaskTask

Agile hierarchy




General relativity can be used in orbital mechanics

Intrinsic Load

Simpler Models

but generally, even NASA uses Newtons laws of motion because they are easier to work with!




Intrinsic Load

Analogical Problem Solving

Gick & Holyoak (1980)

A patient with a malignant stomach tumour can only be saved by a special kind of ray.

However, a ray strong enough to destroy the tumour will also destroy healthy tissue, whereas a ray that does not harm healthy tissue will be too weak to destroy the tumour.




Intrinsic Load

Analogical Problem Solving

Gick & Holyoak (1980)

A general wants to capture a fortress, but the roads to it are mined, making it too dangerous for the entire army to march along one of them.

However, the mines are set so that small numbers of troops could pass over safely. The general had his entire army converge at the same time on the fortress by walking along several different roads.




Intrinsic Load

Analogical Problem SolvingAbstractions can reduce intrinsic load and enable insight

Good analogies can aid understanding

Bad analogies may hinder understanding

But dont take the analogy too far




Imposed by distractions or tasks which are irrelevant to the goal.

Coping with a loud environment

Unfamiliarity with a development tool

Unreadable code

e.g.





Try working somewhere quieter

or wearing headphones?





Reduce the number of tools or libraries to a minimum





What is a paragraph? Writing of any length requires subdivision into a number of points or stages, and these stages are expressed in a paragraph. Paragraphs, whether denoted by a new line and an indentation or a line break, provide a structure for your writing. The end of a paragraph represents a significant pause in the flow of the writing. This pause is a signpost to the reader, indicating that the writing is about to move on to a different stage. Each paragraph should deal with one idea or aspect of an idea, and it should be clear to the reader what this main idea is. How long should a paragraph be? There is no absolute rule: very short or long paragraphs can work when used by an experienced writer. However, as a guideline, paragraphs should usually be no less that 2 or 3 sentences long and there should be 2 or 3 paragraphs per page of A4. The length of a paragraph depends on the idea being treated, but if a paragraph is shorter than 2 or 3 sentences, check to see if it is not really part of the previous or next paragraph. If your paragraph is longer than half a page, check to see if the idea would be better explained in two or more paragraphs. When do I start a new paragraph? Start a new paragraph for each new point or stage in your writing. When you begin a paragraph you should always be aware of the main idea being expressed in that paragraph. Be alert to digressions or details that belong either in a different paragraph or need a paragraph of their own.

Paragraphs of code




What is a paragraph?

Writing of any length requires subdivision into a number of points or stages, and these stages are expressed in a paragraph. Paragraphs, whether denoted by a new line and an indentation or a line break, provide a structure for your writing. The end of a paragraph represents a significant pause in the flow of the writing. This pause is a signpost to the reader, indicating that the writing is about to move on to a different stage. Each paragraph should deal with one idea or aspect of an idea, and it should be clear to the reader what this main idea is.

How long should a paragraph be?

There is no absolute rule: very short or long paragraphs can work when used by an experienced writer. However, as a guideline, paragraphs should usually be no less that 2 or 3 sentences long and there should be 2 or 3 paragraphs per page of A4. The length of a paragraph depends on the idea being treated, but if a paragraph is shorter than 2 or 3 sentences, check to see if it is not really part of the previous or next paragraph. If your paragraph is longer than half a page, check to see if the idea would be better explained in two or more paragraphs.

When do I start a new paragraph?

Start a new paragraph for each new point or stage in your writing. When you begin a paragraph you should always be aware of the main idea being expressed in that paragraph. Be alert to digressions or details that belong either in a different paragraph or need a paragraph of their own.

Paragraphs of code




Paragraphs of codeExtraneous (Irrelevant) Load




Paragraphs of code

Use appropriate whitespace and line breaks as cues





Code tells you how, comments tell you why.

Jeff Atwood @codinghorror





Good comments signal that all is not as straightforward as it might appear





Maintain consistency without the load of learning a style-guide






Reducing irrelevant load focuses attention




Beneficial load imposed by tasks which are relevant to an overall goal.

Repetition and context variation give us the skills to apply knowledge in a wider variety of situations.


Essential for complex schema creation




Repetition = Practice





Ebbinghaus forgetting curve (1885)

Leads to spaced repetition





Context Variation

Tree?





How about a different context?





Goal : Understand existing codebase.





Another context?





Goal : Self-directed Learning





Develop more flexible schemas through pairing

This can leverage the modality effect






Elaborate and rehearse existing schemas

Encode new information

Promote automaticity




Information fatigue syndrome is a clear and present danger in software development.




We constantly need to learn




Cognitive psychology can tell us how we learn...




But it also tells us that there are limits to our ability to learn





A set of universal, evidence-based principles




ManageIntrinsic

Load

IncreaseRelevant

Load

+

ReduceIrrelevant

Load

+

= Efficient Learning & Increased Productivity



Jo Pearce


Non-binary (they/them), developer and science womble.

Thanks!Any questions?




BibliographyFuture Shock- Alvin Toffler

Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load- Ruth Colvin Clark; Frank Nguyen; John Sweller

Building Expertise: Cognitive Methods for Training and Performance Improvement - Ruth Colvin Clark

Cognitive Psychology- Michael Eysenck; Mark T. Keane


hacking your head - managing information overload (45 mix)

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