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From the Guest Editor's Notebook Information Overloaditis

lberlin{at}rsh.net

Two days after I personally was struck by the plethora of uninvited informational e-mails from a variety of radiology-related organizations and publications, I received a call from my friend, Lenny Berlin. He had been similarly impressed with this new phenomenon and had written a poem about it, in the form of a lamentation. The poem seems to accurately reflect a problem with modern-day communications, which will do more harm than good as far as "keeping the public informed." This poem is too good not to share with the entire AJR readership. Thus, I invited Lenny to serve as my "guest editor" for this month. Enjoy!

Robert J. Stanley

Editor in Chief

rstanley{at}uabmc.edu

In times past I began my day by checking my answering machine, Sifting through phone messages, to see what information I could glean.

Most of the time there'd be none, or one message, rarely more than a couple, Thus, after a few minutes I could start the day's work on the double.

But then came the Computer: a revolutionary development, And from then on, communication became completely different.

Forget the telephone, forget writing, we were told, Now and forevermore, communicating by e-mail will be the vogue.

Now a days I begin my day by rushing to my computer without a stop, Anxious to find out how many e-mails await me on my desktop.

No sooner do I flip on the computer, but what do I see—Untold numbers of e-mails, just waiting for me.

My hospital-installed filter has kept out junk mail and similar stuff, It has barred sales pitches and spam, but it hasn't done enough.

For the computer sends through e-mail after e-mail of myriad news reports, Arriving from radiologic organizations or allied professional groups of all sorts.

There's the RSNA Daily Scan and Briefing—in conjunction with US News & World Report Magazine, Chock full of radiology news: national, local, and everywhere in between.

There's also the ACR Daily Press Report, which contains lots of tidbits, Such as which X-ray company's CEOs are in, are out, are smart, or are misfits.

There is also the ACR Morning Scan, which is basically a show-and-tell, Which, when compared to all other e-mail communications, is virtually identical.

Then there's the Diagnostic Imaging—and the RT Image—Newsletter, And Medscape Medical Pulse, and Modern Physician Alert, which claims to be better.

There's Health Imaging News, and let's not forget Aunt Minnie, Along with e-mail Announcements by the Nuclear Medicine Society.

There's even more news forthcoming from Medical Imaging Magazine, And with the ACR Case In Point, there are images to be seen.

There's also Imaging Economics Adviser and the Ascend Medical publication, With so many e-mail reports to be read, I don't even have time for a vacation.

Then there are the newspapers: the New York Times and Crain's Business, If I read them all, no work would get done, I must candidly confess.

Things would be so much better if each news publisher had a unique mission, But, alas, all of them have one common denominator: repetition.

I'm frustrated to note that the stories these e-mails cover are all the same, If I had to read each and every one of them, I'd quickly go insane.

Continuously striking the keyboard is making me groan, For I'm afraid I'm beginning to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

Worse yet, I fear we are all developing a new disease: "Information Overloaditis," Which, when sitting at the computer causes another new disease: "Gluteus Maximusitis."

Sometimes I pine to return to the days of old, and simply regress, Communication was so much simpler then, for it was done by Pony Express.

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Berlin, L. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Berlin, L. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?