(NOTE: This series of posts is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Journalism Next, which will be published by CQPress and is due out in the fall.)
Data, data everywhere. Now that we’re deep into the information age, it’s time for everyone to accept that the amount of information in our lives is only going to keep growing. As author Clay Shirky notes, “There is no such thing as information overload, only filter failure.â€
This onslaught of information has a double impact on most people, and we’ll address both sides in this chapter. The first challenge is personal: taking advantage of digital tools and services to manage your day without drowning in emails, status updates, blog posts and other interesting information. The second is professional: seizing the opportunities that new technology like searchable databases, open APIs and interactive maps offer you as a journalist.
We are all Web workers now. If you use a computer for a good chunk of every day, you are constantly connected to a wealth of information and large groups of people. How do you make the most of these connections? While there are dozens of excellent sources that focus on using technology to do better journalism, it’s also incumbent on the people doing the journalism to tap into technology to improve their own productivity.
Thousands of smart people are out there working to streamline your life by creating services like Remember the Milk and Jott. Meanwhile, new technology is continually being developed to make your journalism more meaningful to your audience.
Why waste time longing for the old days, before that audience had so many claims on its attention? Better to spend the time exploring new opportunities – and you can do that by making sure you spend as little time as possible on mundane tasks like e-mail and note-taking.
So begin by digitizing your life. Then work on digitizing your journalism. This is the focus of an entire chapter in my upcoming book and I’ll publish an excerpt from each segment in the coming days.
Next: Part 2: Digitzing your life and getting things done
Mark Briggs 
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