An Interesting article on the glut of information that is coming our way everyday. The fact is we started to think Internet and email are a religion by themselves and that they are part of our body and spirit. While Internet is a great source of Information does it really help us to do critical thinking. Put it another way, can we produce “better” research with internet than what what we could in the pre-internet days.
“It’s a hall of mirrors,” agrees Michael Gorman, the Briton who is president of the American Library Association (ALA), “and it’s very addictive”
Internet I too believe is hall of mirrors. While I am writing this I will be linking to 3 more blogs and articles which talk about the same topic referencing one another. I am probably not going to add any value to this writing except the links I produce to a few more articles. The point is we believe our ability to filter and receive the glut of information is a sign of Intelligence and originality. In truth it is just imitation. In the process we become addicted to the information we receive every second and feel left out when we are away from Information. We simply feel powerless.
“It’s a false supposition we can endlessly delay having to interpret and judge things by stacking more and more bits of data in front of us,” he says. “That data is a comfort blanket in a way – we all do this. People are becoming addicted to getting more information all the time. You can see it when they get out their blackberry as soon as they’ve stepped off a plane.”
“There are very few things in business (outside of the factory floor or the retail sales floor) where a delay of a few minutes or even hours is all that critical. Somehow, we have converted vast numbers of knowledge workers to the belief that they are like air traffic controllers, who need to react instantly when the “confect alert” shows up on their scope”. Another more dangerous trend is we are gullible and believe the information we receive through Internet is all truth, consists of wisdom and dependable. Wikipedia the best source of “authentic” information on Internet is probably a playground for a group of amateur writers to share their wandering thoughts.
The blog from Nicholas Carr (Remember IT is nothing) talks about the veracity of research in Wikipedia. .
“Like me, you’ve probably sensed the same thing, in yourself and in others – the way the constant collection of information becomes an easy substitute for trying to achieve any kind of true understanding. It seems a form of laziness as much as anything else, a laziness that the internet both encourages and justifies.”
Niocholas Carr
As I said in one of my previous blogs we need to be discreet in the books that one wants to read. But there are authentic sources which rate books. What about Internet and email. Will there be rating of Internet pages from an authentic source. And how about email. On an average we process more than 100 emails a day spending a better part of the work day. So where is the time to think.
The glut of information, the doubtful credentials of the information, our laziness and gullibility in believing the information is knowledge, brings me to the final thought in the chain. In future will Concentration of mind be the true source of competitive advantage. Is the most important thing in future is “to read” or to decide what “not to read”.
“The development of sustainable competitive advantage often requires that you be a contrarian. You go where other people aren’t. You don’t follow the masses. You let other companies move on from fad to fad while you question each “new thing” and focus on boring ideas like execution. Don’t get distracted. Build a culture of concentration. While everyone else is searching for a long tail and a blue ocean, you can keep focusing on niche markets and differentiation, just as you always have. Concentration, focus, execution, the ability to tune out the fluff – that will be the competitive advantage of the future”