The Value of Information in a throwaway society
The issue of single use plastic is a hot topic right now. Suddenly everyone is talking about it and finally we are starting to see alternatives to current practices. The issue has reached that point where we have done enough damage for enough people to open their eyes to the evidence around them. Shame that it always takes dramatic events for us to develop a conscience but at least it has our attention now.
This issue is one — highly damaging — example of the way we as a society have evolved. Any of us over a certain age may well remember how all of the convenience promised by plastic products was quite liberating at the time — for us at least. It made such a difference to our lives that it became the answer to everything. Little did we know just what we were going to be faced with less than a century later and how overwhelmed our planet would be by it.
What does that have in common with Information?
It just struck me recently that the challenges we face with information share some common themes. I’m not sure that everyone would agree with me that there is a challenge to be solved here — at least not the way I see it. I’m pretty sure that there is little appetite for what I think is important and what I’d love to see change. But this crops up so much and in so many ways I can’t ignore it. If nothing else the very process of getting my thoughts — and frustrations — down in writing may help me to see the issue differently.
Where to Start?
There was a time when information was much harder to acquire. Most of us took what we were told / taught for granted and relied on expert opinion. We focused on our self interest and immediate needs. There was no internet and we lived much more insular lives.
And then it all changed
We look back on those days and wonder how we coped without the internet, without the ability to search for pretty much anything and get an immediate answer, without the ability to reach friends, family and strangers whenever and however we like. We may complain that we are now overloaded and overwhelmed with information but I’d like to see the reaction if this freedom was taken from us!
Yet despite the incredible advances we now enjoy we are still a throw away society and, in both personal and professional lives, information has become a single use commodity that receives limited attention from so many. Because it’s so easy to get we don’t really place that much value on it.
The impact of this is maybe more subtle and less likely to cause the outrage we are seeing over plastic, but it is still — I believe — pretty toxic and holds far reaching consequences.
Just like our love affair with plastic; convenience, immediacy and self serving behaviours are the dominant factors in our approach to the way we treat information. We continue to value instant gratification over long term benefit and take a largely selfish attitude to our use of information.
Before I go further — I know that this does not apply to everyone. There are still people who treat information as the valuable asset that it is. But in any organisation I believe them to be a minority. I’d like to think that at least organisations dedicated to research and learning were exempt from this but I’m not convinced. They too have the ability to take a self serving approach to their information or — very often the case — struggle to know how to release its value so that others can benefit from greater insight.
And It Comes Down to This….
There is no particular order to what follows, just a first step in examining this topic a little more and maybe to test whether these things really are issues that we should give a damm about — or I am just enjoying a good personal rant about all the things that frustrate me!
I’m hoping somewhere in all of this is a future framework for Information and Insight that is waiting to be discovered…
Being in the Know.
Don’t we all love to be the one with the great insight or knowledge? It helps us prove our value, impresses peers and builds followers. The more status we have the more we are believed and taken seriously, the less our viewpoints are questioned.
Just because someone sounds convincing doesn’t necessarily mean they are giving you the best advice / information. As a minimum we should be validating more ourselves, asking critical questions that test the relevance and credibility of what we are hearing and being more confident in asking for more clarification when something doesn’t make sense. It may well be that it really doesn’t make sense.
The urge to share
It has become so easy to share information with whoever we want to — individuals or large groups. And we have so many ways to share. Our natural behaviour is to go the route that is easiest for us — or that we most prefer. And of course our reasons for sharing are varied — on a spectrum from random reaction through to deliberate selection.
This — for me — is where the throw away mindset dominates. This mass sharing behaviour means that at least half the stuff we share probably goes nowhere. A lot of the information that gets shared has value only for a limited time. But a significant amount has much greater potential and that potential to create insight may only show up in the future, and in ways we didn’t anticipate at the time. So we have to find ways to hang onto these contributions and hope that we remember we had them when the tine comes. I suspect we fail more times than we succeed — unless I am just rubbish at this
#lovethe hashtag
If ever there was a lost opportunity this is it for me. Tagging data is not something that only got introduced by social media of course. The idea of categorising information in some way has been around for as long as I can remember. I’m sure it is working well in pockets now but for every example of good tagging behaviour there seem to be many more examples of gratuitous tagging — or none at all. I confess I rarely even tag things in social media because I’m just not convinced it’s going to make any difference.
The idea however is such an important one. Given that most (valuable) information typically holds different meaning and insight for different people and situations it is hugely valuable to be able to look at it through multiple filters. It’s a must have for anyone dealing with complex information and yet used so variably and often with little or no thought.
Spare me the detail!
We are all so quick to fall back on the various reasons for not getting into detail — it’s someone else’s job, we have too many things to do, we leave this stuff to the geeks who like data. The result is superficial views of lots of things, just enough attention to appear knowledgeable and look like we give a damm. The minute you attempt to engage seriously over a complex issue the facade soon crumbles and you can — if you try — easily spot just how little engagement and interest there is in the subject. The more senior (read important) a person, the more this shows up. Apparently a willingness to dig deeply into information is not going to score any status points and put you up there in the ‘A Team’.
I get that this is not for everyone, that burying yourself in a ton of information that may not lead anywhere may not be the best use of everyone’s time. But that shouldn’t mean that we don’t all have responsibility to take more than a passing interest in the information that touches us — or that we don’t owe it to those who do go the extra mile to take this more seriously.
Instant Gratification
I got the answer I needed / wanted / was expecting so that’s me sorted. Why look further when there is a long list of other things I should be doing?
Sometimes we barely take in the information we are provided, we are blind to everything but that but that is going help us get another job ticked off. It’s how we miss so many signs and clues that tell us we should be taking notice of something else. We approach information with our brains pre-coded to only see certain things.
Later — when that error shows up or sometime else spots the opportunity we missed, or we solve the wrong problem — we wonder how on earth that happened.
So many organisations speak passionately about their desire to scale great work, about the special sauce that exists within their organization. Yet very few have taken the time to do justice to the very thing that has created this potential — the information that represents their Crown Jewels. It’s scattered around in documents, in peoples heads, maybe in training manuals. But the chances are the real insights — the things that really represent value — are completely inaccessible.
You can’t trap that kind of information in rigid formal documents. It needs to be able to come to life and to stay alive. A huge investment that requires some kind of commitment from many people — not just those who hold the knowledge.
In the absence of any conclusions
I didn’t expect this stream of consciousness to reach any aha moment right now. It’s food for thought — for me mostly I suspect. If any of this has struck a chord then it would be great to get additional perspectives.
