Mike Davidson's article Newsmap as a Model for Smart Aggregation provides an insightful view of the future of information retrieval, presentation and use. I readily admit to being an information junkie - I'm subscribed to several lists (evolt, WebDesign-L, FreeCycle etc.), forums (eZ publish, KnifeForums (work), UsualSuspects (work) etc.), 72 RSS feeds (actually 73, now that I am aware of Mike's site), several sites that are not currently RSS-enabled, a couple of IRC channels, and a select group of IM contacts. As noted in the article, it isn't easy to keep up with the steady flow of information, and at times I am required to shut down some of the sources to ensure I can work without distraction.Most days I rely on a few configuration controls to keep from being overwhelmed by information. Beyond the standard spam controls (SpamAssassin with Thunderbird's junk filtering), I use message filtering and labeling to sort incoming mail to folders, delineated by subject or sender, allowing me to focus on important e-mail first. I have set up my RSS aggregator (SharpReader) to refresh a few select feeds every two hours, while the vast majority are refreshed every four or eight hours. Some days I find that the information provided in the less-often refreshed feeds is much more interesting/important than in those feeds I have deemed worth refreshing every two hours. While I can mark myself away or shut off my IM client (Trillian) if I need to focus for a while, there are those occasional periods where I need brief moments of intense concentration in an otherwise relaxed day, only to receive a pop-up message window, distracting me from the task at hand. Pretty damned frustrating to say the least.Obviously, I am a prime customer for a personal contact/information agent. If I had a tool to control the flow of all of these streams I would be much more efficient, without losing the valuable connections required by my job in a fast-moving industry. I would actually add a couple more features to Mike's idea.