Adventure of Strategy

One of the things that is most on my mind right now is how, in this world of information overload, the way that we share information is evolving. So much information ... so little time. How can I find the gems that I really do need to absorb, amongst the haystacks of data that inundate me daily?

For something to be worthy of my (or your) attention, it needs to be:

1.  Directly relevant to me (or you)
2.  Accurate, well considered, objective and instantly understandable
3.  Different to what I already know (or else what's the point?)
4.  If time sensitive, then delivered in time to be useful
5.  Concise .... I have only a couple of minutes so just give me the headlines

There are a couple of tools or concepts that have emerged recently, that I think meet these criteria. Enough of Wikipedia is right up there to allow us to forgive the bits where it lags. Many blogs are too but we need sharper instruments than Technorati or Digg to sort the wheat from the chaffe. Instruments that reach truly mainstream use, too, so that they are useful to the non-techno people that make up the majority of the planet. Enterprise blog platforms like Wordframe have enormous potential for sharing knowledge and collaborating inside of organizations but they are at really early stages of their evolution.

Another tool that I just discovered today, thanks to the inimitable Seth Godin, is ChangeThis. According to their web page, they are ...

".... creating a new kind of media .... that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread .... to spread important ideas and change minds."

Concise ideas or arguments are presented in five, ten or twenty page PDF "manifestos" that are selected for publication precisely because they are well argued, short, attractively presented and easy to assimilate quickly. The PDF pages are like Powerpoint slides but designed to be read on a computer screen, not projected.

Here are a few that might interest you right now:

The Upside of a Downturn

Performance Architecture: A Blueprint to go "Beyond Personal Best"

Business Improvisation: The Diving Catch of the Corporate World

Very cool!

The Change This group also addresses the ever increasing demand by the "consumer" to have their information...When they want it, How they want it, and in the format they want it...
A very individual way of consuming any product or information.