A life where TiVo has always existed is a great example of how subsequent generations take for granted technology that was new and strange not long ago. [via The Shifted Librarian]
When I wrote this article I started from a belief that by combining Denham’s thoughts with my earlier post I had seen a new aspect of the possibilities for knowledge aggregation and filtering. Then I read the background links that led to this addition, added in a spirit of “Oh, perhaps it wasn’t that original after all, I’d better acknowledge this other work”. In other words some of the glow of achievement I felt about spotting the earlier idea had been tarnished.
This one from Curt Rosengren seemed worth a mention – The perfectionist definition of “good enough” – it’s a pattern I’ve seen in a few high-performing coaching clients too.
At the suggestion of Marc Eisenstadt I’ve been trying Compendium. The tool itself seems relatively straightforward (I have used both cognitive mapping and mind map software before so this may not be a fair assessment of how a beginner would get on) – the trick I suspect is in learning a methodical approach to applying it to a specific task. I experimented trying to map out the exchange of views in the recent “Hierarchy” exchange (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) [order may not be quite right] between Dave Rogers , Jon Husband and Euan Semple but ran out of steam partway through analysing the second post.
Denham Grey has been thinking about knowledge management for a long time – it looks like he has been turning his thoughts to some of the issues I touched on in Semantic Aggregation and Filtering. He writes in Social Categorisation: The ability to develop and share a common taxonomy / classification / ontology is a very fundamental knowledge practice that leverages knowledge creation, communication, promotes meaning and enables sense-making. Tools to do this are far and few right now but likely to be moving toward center stage in the near future… He adds a fourth mechanism for extracting and sharing a taxonomy
Dale Pike has some interesting things to say about semantic focus as an organising principle for understanding technology – in particular for explaining how a specific aspect of some arbitrary technology helps with specific tasks. The down side of this, he observes, is that tools tend to become pigeon-holed by the application that is first used to explain them – seeing the tool in a different context might enable new uses but for many people there is a cognitive barrier set by the first mental model they have created.
Johanna Rothman‘s Observations from a Writing Workshop “If you’d like to write — or write better, start. You can start short, with 5 or 10 minute timed writing. (Write for 5 or 10 minutes. Do not stop. Keep writing. If you get stuck, write blah, blah, blah, but keep writing.)” [via Clarke Ching]
Great article on the why of business collaboration from CIO.com. [via Tris Hussey]
Some excellent hints for revising your writing from Brian Marick [via Clarke Ching]
I was waiting for email to download this morning when I witnessed two cats and three squirrels playing “cat and tree-rat”. Watching the activity that spread across the gardens of four or five houses I began to see that although the cats were very good at “seizing” the symbolic and literal high ground such as garage roofs, first-floor window ledges and critical fence junctions their attempts to interdict the insurgent terror-rodents were almost completely ineffectual.