Hintonblogger

The true challenge of the 21st-century seems to be the ability to identify and assimilate valuable information and then to apply it appropriately. The difficulty lies in the incredible proliferation of information sources which constantly compete for our attention. This situation threatens us with the condition of running from one new thing to the next without ever contextualizing the importance of these new things in the framework of previous knowledge and actions (i.e. it becomes unmanageable). For example of, do you find yourself frequently saying, "I'm so behind the times, I can never keep up," or "My {email/RSS feeds} are overloaded, I'll never get caught up with the {email/posts} I haven't read."

I believe the challenge we face with these elements of our lives are similar in principle to the challenges our students face from slick media marketing and the barrage of "connectedness" from their cell phones, music players, and internet access. As I face this challenge myself, I've reflected upon 3 principles of effective information management that help me to "own" the information (and use it to my advantage) rather than being at the mercy of it.

Quantity

The information/interaction I consume or experience has to be in a certain range where I feel confident in my abilities to consistently assimilate or contextualize what I encounter. If it is far above a manageable range then the information I am bombarded with can actually be paralyzing, rather than empowering. If needed, make the hard decision and prune sources of information or interaction to a manageable level.

Variety

As quantity is maintained at a manageable level, it is critical that variety be preserved. Without some variety in your information/interaction we run the risk of fostering a narrow/closed range of sources. This can be an even more dangerous condition than information overload, as we can narrow ourselves to irrelevancy.

Quality

Physically, we are largely products of our diet. Intellectually we are byproducts of the quality of our input and interaction. Never skimp on quality!

The question remains for all of us as to how we manage the information/interaction in our lives (especially the online kind which is so prolific). As I prune the number of feeds I read, prioritize them, and explore new information and interactive sources (such as Twitter) I find myself coming back to these questions:

How is the quality of what I'm reading? Is it really worth the time I'm trading for it? How relevant is it to me? Does my learning network have sufficient breadth of topic(s), as well as depth? Is there so much there that it is distracting, rather than useful?

It is quite simply a daily challenge of living in the 21st Century. Are our kids ready for a lifetime of this?

UPDATE: Just ran across a recent post by Will Richardson titled "Network Learning Practice" that has some excellent thoughts about this topic. One of the key quotes that stood out in his post was this statement:

"I find myself reflecting really deeply of late about how we build these connections, how we manage them, how we leverage them."

-AMEN!