Too much information…
No, too much knowledge.
The blogging world certainly delivers information. We may define “information” any number of ways. I prefer to think of it as statements about facts in the world (via Neil Postman). But information may also be thought of as the reduction of uncertainty (via PressThink).
I think it’s instructive to think of “knowledge” as organized information embedded in a context (also via Postman). This definition works well with either definition of information. Actually, we may think of these as merely two ways to state the same definition. Postman’s definition is rhetorical in that it puts the concept of information squarely within the framework of a message, i.e. a statement or speech act. The Shannon-Weaver model uses formal language to demonstrate the communicative or interpretive value of reducing uncertainty. Both conceptions operate on the premise that information must have comparative utility.
(Interesting question: Is it, then, impossible to have too much information? What are we talking about when we claim it?)
I had an unusually busy week recently that affected the number (and quality) of my posts to Rhetorica. I also was unable to spend much time reading my favorite news sites and blogs. And I was in a complete twit about it!
Information was still getting in that week. But what I missed was the knowledge. I may have reached the point of knowledge overload, i.e. I can’t keep up with all the excellent blogs I enjoy reading. There are just too many of them and the number keeps growing! And I can’t keep up with all the ideas sparked by all of this knowledge.
(Further, the very best bloggers make their readers work harder, i.e. by making us read longer, well-developed posts that cross the knowledge-wisdom boundary.)
This post is certainly weak on knowledge, unless you’re just intensely interested in me 
I just needed a break from grading papers, and writing this post seemed like the thing to do.
