ABSTRACT
Many people have argued that we are in the midst of an accelerating information explosion. Information in many fields appears to be increasing exponentially: The growth of information volume and accessibility seems to follow the same accelerated curves displayed by increases in computer data storage, data-processing speed, and data delivery speed. Indeed, this perception of information hypergrowth has led some to conclude that the modern individual is subject to a kind of "information anxiety," unable to easily find his bearings in the midst of a "data smog" (Shenk, 1996). Gleick (2000) sees a data explosion that, in the computer age, results in time itself being compressed. Within organizations, jobs in "knowledge management," often at the executive level (chief information officer, chief knowledge officer), are being created to deal with a perceived internal growth of knowledge that is closely linked to the more global information explosion (Schubert, 2004).
