On two recent occasions I have been confronted with the realities of the information and population explosion. Sharing a meal with a well informed professional person, we have mentioned leaders in our respective fields of work, only to be faced with completely blank looks. These are social trials …. either trying to hide our shock at another’s ignorance, or even worse pretending to know who is being discussed. It can be really quite embarrassing if we don’t openly understand and acknowledge the reality of the situation. It has always happened to a certain extent, but it is getting increasingly difficult to keep up. And there is little authenticity in pretending.
In the revised Shift Happens film (below) it quotes that the amount of technical information is doubling every 2 years, there were 3000 books published today, 2.7 billion searches performed on google this month…
Which is why computers are no longer optional… and why social network sites have literally exploded. We need to manage all the connections and all the information. The truth is really quite profound. We cannot manage without people networks, where we have connections with lots and lots of other people. And with those connections can come a measure of confidence. Perhaps we don’t need to be trying desperately to absorb so much information, perhaps it is OK to let others know lots of other things we don’t . . . but are only a click or a call away?
We need people, and we need to build trusting relationships with those people in order to collaborate.
I think that that this is a truly wonderful thing.
There is certainly no doubt in my mind that self-organisation has already happened with regard social networking sites. The challenge is to design systems evolutionary enough and quickly enough to ensure their relevance . . . next week.
March 5th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Tessy, I agree that it’s hard to confess being ignorant, esp when I am supposed to be an “expert” - it feels weak to say “I don’t know.” Often when I’m presenting someone will say, “oh, that reminds me of the book by ___ - you must have read it.” Today there are 3000 more books I have not read… so am I 3000 books more ignorant?
It seems that just as I am overwhelmed by the deluge, something similar is happening in communities, families, schools, organizations world wide… Doubling data means being even more bombarded… the “signal to noise ratio” is getting exponentially smaller… so we’ve got to find ways to cut through the babble.
It’s an intriguing paradox because emotions are “illogical,” but mMy experience is that the more I push away feelings, the harder it is to cut through the noise.
Why is that?
March 6th, 2008 at 2:31 am
My guess is that the information overload is very stress inducing, because not only are educators having to decide which information should be taught, but as adults we are having to sift what is important or relevant.
This is why I feel that the ‘trusted network’ is so vital….and this is something I really benefit from with the 6 Seconds network that you take such care to nurture.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:25 pm