Sometimes it feels like this….

Getting information off the internet is like drinking from a fire hydrant.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/2595497078/ (Creative Commons licence)

When I first read this quote (one night of reading on the Internet!) it seemed to exactly capture that experience of wanting to follow so many different connections, different threads, being afraid of forgetting something, or missing something.  Some people seem to be able to take in huge volumes information and then synthesise it, adding new insights, and thus create even more information!

This is where the work of people such as Howard Rheinhold and Harold Jarche has particular power.  Rheinhold writes about being “Net Smart”, or consciously discerning, when searching for information.  He teaches others in the skill of “Crap Detection”, an essential skill when conducting research.  Jarche writes and teaches on “Personal Knowledge Management”, another approach to drinking safely from the hydrant.  Having such models in mind when seeking information on the net is essential to allow time to personally process what we come across, and to ensure we think more deeply than mere ‘information bursts’.

Choosing curation tools has allowed me to drink without getting knocked over in the blast.  It took me a little while to work out what was going to work for me.  For now, I tend to use Pinterest for personal interests and hobbies and Pearltrees for links relating to learning.  I joined ScoopIt and Delicious but find I don’t use them very often.  The visual and structural aspects of Pinterest and Pearltrees appeal to me, and I find that it takes too much time, and becomes too confusing, to use multiple tools.

It is interesting to compare these two tools – I have spent hours on Pinterest as there is so much to look at right there, without ever visiting the source sites of the images.  In contrast Pearltrees is not as engaging as a source of information, but is useful as a repository of links.

For me the key to safely drinking from the rushing water is discernment – just follow a manageable amount of trickles while keeping an eye on the broader direction of the flow of the gushing hydrant.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *