The document discusses how attention does not scale in the age of information abundance. It notes that there are now 250 billion pieces of online content created each day, far more than any individual can pay attention to. As a result, information overload has become a major problem. The document suggests that content curation, where information is organized and filtered by curators, can help address this issue by selecting and highlighting the most important information for audiences. It argues that both individuals and organizations will need to take on curator roles to help refine online experiences and combat distraction in the digital era.
28. Information overload is a symptom of over
consumption and the inability to refine online
experiences based on interest and importance.
-- Brian Solis
@ewenge
31. Elizabeth Weaver Engel, M.A., CAE
CEO & Chief Strategist
http://bit.ly/WVpP4a
w getmespark.com
p 202.468.3478
e ewengel@getmespark.com
t @ewengel
li www.linkedin.com/in/ewengel
Thank you
Twitter handle
First video – Little Bobby
That was then
2 phones – not there, can’t get you
Fax was new & exciting – faster than US Mail
Often started the day with that thing (under 30? It’s a newspaper)
Email for geeks only – few had addresses
Internet required govt & research university access
This is now
Talk about all the things apps can do
Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Plus various types of computers, plus print media, social media, TV
Chris Brogan: “My Precious” & electronic leash
Drowning in the 24 hour flood of information
First thing – last thing
Show of hands – taken it to the bathroom?
Scaling
Computers can scale – Moore’s law, they have to
Humans can’t scale – 24 hours for millennia – brains don’t change
Swiss scientist Conrad Gessner – abundance of data is “confusing and harmful” – invention of the printing press 700 years ago
French politician Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes feared printed news (aka “newspapers”) because people no longer had to talk to their neighbors to find out what was happening – 18th century
Telegraph, telephone, radio, TV – same thing
Boston Globe, "The total amount of information created on the world’s electronic devices is expected to surpass the zettabyte mark this year."
Cisco said it wouldn’t happen until 2015
Kilobyte
Megabyte
Gigabyte
Terabyte
Petabyte
Exabyte
Zettabyte
Personalize it – my desk - Staged photo
Larger point: multiple screens on multiple devices with multiple windows running multiple apps is reality
Write down all forms of communication
3-5 minutes – look up when done
Show of hands 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 +
animation
Too many platforms
Call them out as they animate in
Plus our website, first class mail, blast and personal emails, and the occasional phone call
It’s no wonder our members look like this guy, right?
Animation
Alvin Toffler 1970 Future Shock
Bombarded with data – can’t make decisions, process information or prioritize tasks
Multitasking - and cute cat picture on FB!
Multitasking myth
Computers – parallel processing
Human switch task – work with automatic tasks
HP/U London 2005 study – loses more IQ points than being stoned
Big think work interrupted by Pavlovian response to email alert = 25 minutes to return to task
100 emails in a work day = 1 email every 4.8 minutes
No wonder members aren’t paying attention
historical role of associations
THE source of info for members & other audiences (media, fed/state leg, the public)
scarcity abundance
Over 4 million active entries in Wikipedia in English (killed Britannica after almost 250 years)
List free resources – experts in blogs & places like HBR & Fast Company – free ebooks – companies do white papers & research reports & infographics
Dirty secret: it’s as good as or better than what we provide
ASAE example
List of communications vehicles – how many provide truly original content
No show of hands, but be honest and write it down
2 minutes or so
Even 50%?
Some do original content (research, peer reviewed journals) – most do general interest magazine & bombard with marketing messages
We’re immersed 40+ hours a week in business of association
Members are immersed 40+ hours a week in business of their business
Competing with family, friends, volunteer obligations, hobbies, faith communities, current events & cute cat pictures on Facebook
Masses of undifferentiated information
Track demographics but don’t use them
Annual conference examples
Members not paying attention
Information expanding exponentially
24 hours in a day
Find as good or better elsewhere
How much attention have you earned?
Overloaded
Trouble making decisions, processing information, prioritizing tasks
We’re making it worse
Not worth the bandwidth – heretical statements (dump magazine, FB, etc.)
Need help selecting info, placing it in context, dataknowledgewise decisions
Traditional filtering mechanisms can’t keep up with zettabyte world
Production & distribution costs high = someone filters for us
Web 2.0 production & distribution = effectively zero, so everything gets published – Google returns millions of results, but it doesn’t provide meaningful, authoritative answers
Plenty of info – some is excellent, some is crap – problem has shifted to filtering – opportunity for associations to help – how?
Shift from information creation to information curation
When I say “curation” what do you think of? Museum curator
Research subject
Collect artifacts – way more than she’ll use
Select the best to tell the story
Interpretation – answer “so what?”
Shares & maintains
Members need same from you – make better decisions personally and professionally
Doesn’t have to be original – museum curator’s not a painter, but people will still go see her Picasso exhibit
Aggregation – archivist – blog list post
Distillation – museum curator - infographics
Trend-spotting – Techmeme & Mashable
Mashups – artists – Grey Album
Chronology – historians – also infographics
Machines – Google – depends on quality of search you construct - can be fooled
Large groups – crowdsourcing (Jeff Howe 2008) – can become a popularity contest – without someone to own it, vulnerable to manipulation
Individuals or small groups – expert curation – can add editorial component – subject to limitations & biases of group
Put them together! First computer, then crowd, then experts
ASAE example
Pair up at tables – 5 minutes - talk with partner about how, knowing who & what, you can engage your members in curation – will alert them ½ way through
Flip to list – next slide
Work with members in a new way – no longer jedi/padawan – deep collaboration – all audiences – co-create what association is & offers
Invest time differently – slower process (write or edit 2000 word article versus point out piece on leadership from Umair Haque in HBR w explanation of how it relates to industry or profession & how it can help the member) – but if you dump magazine staff will have time
New skills – deeply collaborative work with large groups of member and nonmember volunteers is hard
My white paper references Future Work Skills 2020
Key skills:
Helping people determine significance of info
New media literacy
Ability to understand concepts across a wide range of disciplines & see how they relate
Ability to filter info successfully
Abstract to practical – Multivew & SmartBrief example
New model for new problems
Make decisions
Set priorities
Think clearly
Understand context
Make sense of complex & ambiguous world
Find meaning
Value is not in adding to pile of information that’s equal to or better than what we can provide
Problem lies in refining information based on interest and importance
21st century value proposition we can offer – filtering, editing, meaning-making, sense-making indispensible resource attuned to personal & professional needs & worthy of slice of non-scalable attention
Ability to generate & share information is only increasing
Attention doesn’t scale – 24 hour days
Tech evolves – people’s ability to absorb & assimilate info doesn’t
Traditional business model is to source of info – no model lasts forever
21st century thought leadership – make wise decisions & meeting personal & professional goals
Info creation info curation – new skills, new way of relating shift in expecations
If successful, position orgs for success today & tomorrow as critical resource serving deepest needs of members
Isn’t that why we get out of bed in the morning?
Prep for ASAE 12 panel – one panelist kept pushing us to answer “so what?”
Take a few minutes & answer: what will you do differently as a result of this talk or anything else you’ve learned here at CrossConnect today? Few minutes to write something down & if you’re feeling brave, share it at your table
Second video – student animation
Q&A
Interested in more info? Get my white paper
Tell story of quote & read it
Thank you for attention