We need to increase the rate at which we consume information

I am not talking about Matrix style information consumption (although that would be cool) but one of the biggest problems with the overload of information that we are in the midst of is that we are governed by old information presentation models.

Sentences, paragraphs, headings etc… have been the common tools we use to present information. Take a blog post for example. Very straight forward (I am shacked by the common layout formats myself). In most cases we present information on the Internet much the same way we would present it in a book.

We need to rethink this. Some will argue that we don’t present content in the same way that we do in books. They might say, “…but, Ron, we use flash and video and other techniques to get our points across”. They would be correct. Good content is delivered over the Internet using rich media, which is cool for those talented designers that can move in and out of Photoshop and Flash, the same way I do with a web browser.

But what about the rest of us. Those that can’t whip up nice graphics and movies whenever we want. How can we present information in a better way?

Robert Scoble thinks:

“We have too much great content.“

And Steve Rubel thinks that we are headed for an:

“Attention Crash.“

I think Steve and Robert are both correct. But what I think we need is a new way to communicate ideas. Not with text and lengthy paragraphs or run on sentences, but with something else.

I believe that we were headed here anyways. We add thousands of books a year (good books) yet on WordPress alone there were:

1,682,684 blogs with 15,713 new posts today.

We don’t need a fancy publisher to put content out there.  We simply write.  We are not reaching the amount of people that the Times Best Seller writers reach, but if you look at the world of content it is growing at an alarming rate.  The result of this is that eventually all of this “good” content will eventually go to waste.  Hopefully not.

If we don’t produce a way to “rip” through our “good” content in a faster way, we will miss the opportunity to truly capitalize on this great medium.

Commentary: 110% is not a bad thing

I want to comment on a post I read today, by what I would consider to be an expert in the field of Ajax and Web Development in general. I ran across this post today while I was searching for some help on a Spry problem that I was having and it was completely ironic.

The post is called ‘Don’t Give 110%…‘ and it goes into saying:

I would rather have a steady concerted effort than a stressed out push full of mistakes. I want someone on my team who can give me 100% of their effort on a consistant basis rather than someone who gives 80-90% (or less), consistantly, then tries to push the last little bit with a “110%” effort.

Definitely some some sound advice from someone who I am sure “consistently” gives 100% all of the time. When I first started reading the post I was a bit taken a back. Who in their right mind would ever ask for someone not to give them %110. I was about to comment on his blog how that was a rather strange post for someone who is considered a “leader” in the field (at least within the Spry Framework field) when I remembered why I was there.

I found myself at this spot because I was having difficulty with a particular bit of Ajax code I was working on for our new demo site set to release with our product. It worked fine in Firefox but not in IE and so when I searched for help I “stumbled upon” his blog post and was intrigued.

As the day wore on (and I eventually found my problem) I realized that at one angle he has a point. But I think that it needs to be clarified at least.

What I define as 100% and what someone else might define as 100% are totally different things. When I do something I like to do it right. I pay attention to detail. I enjoy the finer parts of complete analysis and thorough execution. However, when you are a perfectionist, something is never really “done”. So how does one define 100% on a solution to a problem or execution of a project that could always be a little bit better.

What is 100% in todays hyper sensitive, uber-attention filled days. Is it participating in a project without any distractions from outside noise? Is it focusing constantly on the problem until you solve it (assuming there is a solution). Don’t know.

I can tell you this: What I was having a problem with (which consumed nearly 45 minutes of my day – and distracted one other individual for more than 10 of those) was a stupid error caused by what I can only imagine could be defined as “fatigue”.

So is my “giving 110%” causing my performance to go down? I am taking on too many projects with little time to complete them to 100% – maybe.

Or, am I a looking at executing my tasks at 110% of my capabilities all the time, whether I spend 1 minute or5 hours. Giving 110% is not only subjective it is relative.

We are not in Kansas anymore

Do a search on “iphone bricking” on any major search engine or blog index site and you will see interesting results. I found these results:

Technorati: “117 blog posts”
Sphere: “27 blog posts”
Digg: “3 pages of articles” – (they don’t seem to show numbered results )
Techmeme: Ranges of articles from September 27, 28, 29 including a headline article posted on September 29, 2007 entitled “IPhone Re-Reviewed (Verdict: Don’t Buy)” which has received thousands of Diggs by readers.

There is even a Wikipedia page called “IBrick” which speaks to this “phenomenon”. And although the article remains un-”wickified” it tells a story of todays technologies penetration on society.

I will be honest, while I may have made conclusions (and I am not one of the over 1 million IPhone owner’s) about what a “bricked” IPhone might look or act like, I was not sure what it meant until I began to read more. And as I look back on this particular decision by Apple to prevent 3rd Party applications on their IPhone, I can’t help but be amazed at how fast new terms and ideas are circulated amongst society.

Years ago (not so many) only a select few people knew what HTML was. Today the word (or acronym as it may be seen) is pretty well known in society. We even use it in our product’ marketing messages to “non-technical” people. And while most people will admit that they can not write HTML, most will tell you they understand what it is.

I am certainly not saying that all 1 million IPhone users understood that on September 27, 2007 when they turned their IPhone on that it may be “bricked”. However there were certainly people aware that there was something wrong when they woke up that morning. More than likely, the IPhone users who did have problems (not sure how many) began looking on the Internet to determine the cause. And more than likely they read a few of the blog posts that surfaced that morning which began to coin the phrase “IPhone Bricking”

And so as stories of the IPhone Bricking incident surface and take hold, I find it fascinating how a group of individuals connected through technology can spread an idea or thought in a common fashion. Like the old game telephone, only faster.