July 7, 2011

Knowing where to look, how to find

The good news is that whatever information you’re looking for is probably out there somewhere. The challenge is finding it in the constantly growing mass of data being accumulated. As a result, we spend a lot of time searching for information – the right data point, the certain perspective on a topic, a specific report, or some collection of ideas.

Google and other search engines help tremendously, as does the ability to engage our various social networks for help. Still, with a growing volume of information, and an increasing need for particular nuance in what we need to find, the process can be daunting. It can feel like we waste a lot of time on the search. It’s frustrating. After all, we can’t even begin our work until we have the information to apply, analyze, or distribute.

Or, is the search part of the work?

Maybe the skills needed today also include the ability to find relevant information quickly – to have good sources and the skills to leverage them effectively. Maybe, then, it would be a good idea to learn the nuances of leveraging search engines and other public tools most effectively. Maybe time spent curating and cultivating social networks around your area of expertise is critical to producing good work. Maybe the work is actually mostly done when you’ve found the information that was needed – maybe the digestion, analysis, and distribution of that information is actually the easy part.

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , 1 Comment
May 14, 2011

Who follows you on Twitter?

In thinking about sources of information, I did some analysis of my usage of Twitter – a channel I’ve been using pretty steadily for quite some time to discover and share information. A few days ago I posted an analysis of the profiles of those I follow on Twitter in the form of a tag cloud. It was an interesting way to consider who I’m getting my information from (at least in terms of how they’ve represented themselves in their profiles).

Today, I’m posting the corollary to that little experiment – a tag cloud of profiles of those who follow me on Twitter. This is my audience, at least in terms of how how they’ve profiled themselves on Twitter.

While this doesn’t answer exactly why they follow me or how much they pay attention to my posts, links and ideas, it is interesting to see the common themes that emerge – and how they relate to the “who I follow” tag cloud.

Who follows you on Twitter? Who are they as a group? And what does that say about you?

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May 12, 2011

Who do you follow on Twitter?

I’ve been thinking about sources of information. I use many channels of communication these days, but one of the steady sources of news and information comes to me from those I follow on Twitter. So, I did a little experiment…

I took the profiles of the people I follow and made a little tag cloud (using Wordle, a nifty tool). While this doesn’t get to the nitty gritty of the types of things those I follow say or what they retweet or what articles they share, it does say something about them as individuals (at least their Twitter persona). After all, it’s what they chose to put in their profile, and probably a significant factor in why I decided to follow them.

Who do you follow on Twitter? Who are they as a group? And what does that say about you?

 

 

Filed Under: Social media Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment
January 13, 2011

The value of information, and the cost of misinformation

Information is currency. Those who offer the highest quality, most timely, and relevant information gain status. That’s the idea behind mastering social networks, and working out the calculations to quantify this is what makes services like Klout interesting.

Klout is still working on the formulas; it’s fun and interesting to see this evolve. It’s not perfect, but it’s not expected to be perfect either (yet). Which brings me to my point, if you set the expectation to be perfect, then you should be pretty darn close to that all the time. Or, you need to simply reset expectations when appropriate.

Losing clout

In Boston, the MBTA runs all our trains and buses. They offer real time information about the status of the service. Train such and such is running 7 mintues late. Bus line such and such is using the snow emergency route today. That sort of thing. It’s offerred up on their website, via an automated phone line, and they even have text updates. The trouble is, when you expect this information to be near perfect – accurate, timely, and relevant, the dissapointment is significant when it’s not.

Promises, Promises

When it seems like the organization promising real time information has access to all the data, the tools to collect it, and the tools to distribute it to you in real time, you expect it to be near perfect. So, when it’s far off, very far off like it was for me today (yes, this is actually a rant about my commute), it costs the organization. The value I place on the organization, the trust I place in future promises, and the credibility I give to future information streams goes down.

Be Real

If they didn’t have the information, on a day when it was particularly valuable (we just had a big blizzard here in the Boston area), it would have been better to reset expectations than to give the wrong information. I would have appreciated the update saying that under today’s conditions, with all hands on deck with tons of extra work and with a volume of issues to contend with that is orders of magnitude higher than a typical day, it’s just not possible to provide up-to-the-minute information on every aspect of the system today. This would be enormously more useful than updates that vacillate between various statuses that purport to be accurate, but which were all proven false.

Photo credit: discoodoni

Filed Under: Communication Tagged With: , , 1 Comment