The world's total yearly production of digital information content amounts to 1.5 billion gigabytes of storage, or 250 megabytes of information for every individual on the planet. Locating key strategic information, such as the latest market predictions for the telecommunications sector, is as easy as accessing the bus timetable for one's local area, at least in theory. However, defects are beginning to appear in this digital fabric, highlighting the problem of "information overload" in everyday life.

Information overload, a great contributor to which is the Internet, refers to the difficulty that users experience in trying to locate and process useful information quickly and easily. The ability to create new information content has far outstripped the ability to process and search it. Moreover, changes in how individuals access information are exacerbating the problem.

In the early stages of the online information age, PC-based Internet access was the primary way...