A one day exclusive gathering of thought leaders who research and confront information overload, organized by the Information Overload Research Group.

It’s been five years since a gathering of three-dozen thought leaders at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash., gave birth to the Information Overload Research Group. IORG is now a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the world solve the information overload problem.

How much progress has been made since then? How have attitudes changed in the past five years? What needs to happen next?

Those qestions and others will be discussed in a daylong event featuring some of those same thought leaders, and may more.  They come from the worlds of business, academia, technology, journalism, psychology and research—and they share a common concern about how we deal with information (and how it deals with us).

Overloaded 2012 takes place in downtown San Francisco on February 25.

“Our agenda will blend keynotes and a participant-driven agenda of topics,” says Nathan Zeldes, IORG’s president. “It promises to be a lively dialog, crossing organizational and domain boundaries, and developing new insight into the state of information overload, as well as the latest solutions.”

Part of the day will be devoted to exploring the how to better facilitate the collaborative exchange of research and best practices for coping with information overload.

“In my experience, getting professional colleagues into one physical room liberates incredible energy. Ideas flow, knowledge is shared, innovative thinking is triggered, collaborations are born, friendships are cemented. That’s how IORG itself came to be. I look forward to seeing the new ideas this event will unleash,” says Zeldes.

Anyone working to solve the information overload problem, looking for solutions or wanting to help shape the discussion is welcome to attend Overloaded 2012. The cost to attend is $75, which covers food and venue expenses.

HOTEL INFORMATION: Lodging arrangements are up to each attendee, but we recommend the Hotel Whitcomb, http://www.hotelwhitcomb.com, which is quite close to the venue and is both respectable and reasonably priced.