I won't answer your questions in detail, that would take too much time.But here are some thoughts.

Before you gather and absorb info you need to have an objective; without this you can't choose what to focus on (and what to skip). I don't know what your objective is, so I can't answer your questions.

Personally I started a PhD in Marketing quite recently so my current intention is to get a general insight into available journals and subjects, and a more in-depth knowledge of my area of specialization (social networking, online communities and e-commerce).At the same time I'm gathering ideas for papers so every time I read something interesting or have an idea I write it down on a list of 'ideas'. Every few weeks I go through them and select the ones that I want to work on, and then spend an afternoon or evening writing a short draft and finding key literature.

Whatever your focus is, make sure you get some advice on what to read; either by someone you know or through the Internet (e.g. forums, Amazon reviews).I read more than most people and Amazon has literally no more recommendations for me on my most favorite subject. But many of the books I read were (close to) useless; avoid this if you can.

Organizing the info: I normally try to fit what I read into rough categories (that I may change at any time). I also try to write down the article's or book's main point(s) on the first page, unless there's an abstract/summary that is good enough.

Finally, on absorbing info. If you are lucky the things that you read are well written. Good business texts have a logical structure, and present their key ideas first and then go into detail. Good texts will allow you to read only the first sentence of each paragraph to understand the complete text, which can be an easy shortcut to reading the whole text.

On time management: if you're lucky you have some time to read during the day (e.g. during public transport commute). If you can get an e-book reader (e.g. Kindle) if that can provide you with the stuff you want to read; it's much easier to carry this small device with you than a stack of books/papers.

Here's how I normally read an article (though this is entirely personal):

1. Read the summary/abstract/introduction, decide if I want to read the article

(if yes ...)

2. Browse through the article to get a general idea of content and structure. Spend about 5-10 seconds per page, but slow down at the key paragraphs (introduction, conclusions, key research findings). Decide if I want to keep reading.

(if yes ...)

3. Either read the whole text thoroughly, or only the parts that are relevant for me. Make notes in the sidelines (if you're using paper) or through my Kindle (if using pdf-s), and highlight a few things with a yellow/green marker.

4. Write a short (2-sentence) summary or write down the things I found of interest, or how it relates to something I'm researching.

to your (good) questions:

1 - I significantly limit the amount of information I take in: I essentially don't take in any news (no paper, no TV nor radio news) other than what is really important for my work. I find that I don't miss out on anything that is important to live life the way I find pleasant (the UK royal wedding and Osama's ending were the only things I was unable to escape over the past year or so and only one of those events was mildly interesting). Then, in terms of what I do take in, I am careful to think about how it fits into what I already know and what I may be able to learn from the new information. If I determine that this is little to none, I skip ahead.

2 - best way to organise information in your mind is to compartmentalise it - as you undoubtedly already do. Then store the useful bits in their compartment, which may involve re-arranging or removing already existing information, paticularly if the new facts shed new light, or is better, than the existing info

3 - almost all for me important information comes to me in two forms: (1) news digests via email - with links to the source if more is desired, and (2) listening to what friends and colleagues find important information. I hardly use print anymore (5% maybe). Also my employer distributes a good daily digest news mail. For relaxation/hobbies I rely on internet forums almost exclusively

4 - I basicaly don't discriminate and am alert for valuable information from any source. Only if it is about factual information for which accuracy and reliability are important do I look at the source to make sure I'm comfortable. I believe I am able to judge the quality of information based on experience - my track record in that has been good (in being able to pick out the most important bits from the deluge). That is probably the single most important thing: to what extent are you able to recognise quality information?

5 - I don't organise myself to take in information, other than minimising what I allow to 'come in'. Key is to only open yourself for what is truly important for your quality of life and ignore all the other things that may be interesting but don't add sufficient value.

Good luck, I am curious about what others do about this essential point?

How do you wean yourself away from reading newspapers or watching TV news?

Here's how it evolved:

I was reading two daily newspapers when I still lived in The Netherlands. Then we moved here end of 2009 and did not immediately take new subscriptions. Plus the language barrier at first was a factor (I would not take a foreign newspaper just because it is in English- so it would have been a French language newspaper). Then I started realising after a couple months that I did not miss reading the papers one bit.

I stopped watching television about 15 years ago, because of the poor quality of the programming and having plenty of other interests that I'd rather spend my time on. I didn't need TV for the news either because I was reading my newspapers back then.

I watched some French news a couple of nights, just to practice my French. Then I found I didn't enjoy the news.

Most of the news is about things you can do very little (actually as good as nothing) about, and news is usually about negative developments. News is rarely positive. So what's the point of taking this in?