I‘m in a battle with information, and I’m having a warrior’s fatigue.
I‘m doing two things at the same time, which seem to be in opposition to one another. I’m trying to use the digital tools that have come as a result of the Internet more effectively to battle information overload. These include reminders to do certain activities, and to help manage the flow from the multiple sites I use both personally and professionally. When I come across something I find useful for colleagues, I now by default save it to Pocket; it’s a cross browser tool, and allows me to ‘take action’ because mentally, I know if I save something on Pocket (rather than my default, delicious) then it’s something that requires more action – it’s a link that I want to share with someone rather than myself. If I saved it to delicious, it’s for ‘me’, and something for personal reference – a way I’m trying to make the data more ‘actionable’.
The other thing I’m doing is using these tools to get offline, conversely enough. The problem is, I feel like I’m spending as much time battling the tools as I am using them effectively, so the time spent managing the tools isn’t allowing me to get offline The problems that exist with the tools because the technology hasn’t come up to its full potential are mind boggling, and I’m not sure if the problems are too hard to solve, or the business need isn’t perceived to be there.
Take events. I usually use a combination of Facebook, Meetup, my personal email, and other social media sites to find events to attend. There are no shortage of events, or sites that publicize them. There isn’t a framework to manage the process, though – I still have to evaluate an event, and manually enter it into a calendar somewhere. I’m using a bunch of technological tools to help with this – RSS, friends, my own evaluation and experience – but in the era of Open Data and Web Standards, why do I have to be involved at all in compiling a calendar, when technology should be able to do this for me?
Say there’s a design related event that people I know or respect are recommending. In San Francisco, I know that if Dan Saffer, John Hagel or Chris Heuer find something interesting, I will try to go to it if I can when I’m in San Francisco. I trust their opinions on an event, and chances are if they find something valuable, I will. I also have pockets of folks who I know who are the equivalent of these folks in other cities – Paul Schreiber in New York City, Christina Gliha in Toronto, Tara Hunt in Montreal, other folks who opinions I respect. I’m not always in their city, but if I was at the time I would like to go to those events because they’ve been pre-vetted. The question is, can machines help us improve the cycle of how we manage events? Do I just subscribe to someone’s calendar and be done with it? I would like a calendar to say, “head’s up, you’ll be in x city on x date, and x person says this event looks worthwhile – want me to add it to your calendar?”.
I don’t think Siri solves this, I don’t think any site solves it, and perhaps I am asking too much of my favourite sites and am overthinking what role tools play in solving a problem. I do know that the world has been improved because of the Peanut Butter and Chocolate approach – taking 2 great things and adding them together. Mashups like HousingMaps (Google Maps and Craigslist) came around because of people seeing two good tools that together become something greater than they could be on their own, in isolation. They become ‘super apps’ – tools that are far more worthwhile and useful than anything else out there. The talk about the importance of Big Data is valid, but until Big Data starts to use Small Tools to make them Bigger Tools by combining and designing better Small Tools, we won’t have solutions. Until calendars help manage my life actively, I’ll still be battling too much information from too many sources. Until our tools help others by harnessing technology like the San Ramon Fire Department App does, we’ll still have dumb terminal apps that are single sources of action or fun, but not solving problems. The Fire Department app inspires me not only because it’s for civic good, but because it takes passive data streams – emergency calls, location of medical tools like defibrillators – and mixes the ‘peanut butter’ and ‘chocolate’ together to create something better. I see it on a personal level with the need for digital lifestyle aggregation for my ‘calendar’ problem, but see it on a societal level with the need for tools that improve all of our lives rather than creating the wheel (or filtering our photos – ahem, Instagram, I’m looking at you). The question is how we can tame the information, improve the tools and get to the point where both of those tigers have meaning and action – and positive ones at that.
Regards,
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