But you can also see from this cloud why I have not written anything. The ratio between information and knowledge is massive. That is why I decided to stop. And if I miss things, which I am sure I will, then I can catch up later.
But I did not write this post to whine. Fortunately or unfortunately I am not a whiner. I wrote this post to make a little comment. A naive comment. A comment which might sound a bit weird from someone that believes in the importance of knowledge and the equal and open access to knowledge.
THERE IS TOO MUCH INFORMATION OUT THERE!
Seriously! Have you noticed???
It is not as if I have been "away" for the last 5 years.
I have been online, I have been looking and searching.
The only thing I am doing different now, compared to... say... 3 years ago is that I am looking online for something that is very new to me. And relatively broader than what I used to be searching for. You will agree that it is not very likely that there is more information on chicken microsatellites than... say... Digital Economies.
In a way I feel sorry for the people that are starting now their lives. There is so much more information out there than it used to be. As many times more information I had compared to my parents. Information increases exponentially!!!!
There is too much information out there. I can spend my whole day following the twitter updates of the people I follow and clicking on the links they are referring to, without even reading any of the links.
Is this right??? Are we going towards the right direction???
If I start blaming anyone, I start with myself: I have been writing my little blog for more than a year now, and as if this was not enough, I started this one too. Everyone puts information online. Useful, interesting, useless information all mixed up.
And I ask again, are we going towards the right direction???
There was a conference this week somewhere in the US. It was called Future of Web 2010. The papers that summarize the plenary talks of that conference are on the massive virtual pile that I will be reading. These people are working on the issue I mention here. Most probably if, instead of writing this post, I read those reports I would be getting my answers. These people are working on this exact thing: a whole conference on the future of the web. I hope they have something to suggest, because in my opinion
THIS IS NOT THE WAY FORWARD!!!
Don't get me wrong. I am all pro-information!!! I am pro-knowledge!!! I am saying this, even though such a statement is a bit pointless, since I cannot think how could anyone not be pro-knowledge, but I am mentioning it just to make a point: I am all for open access to information. I am all for it!!! But I am also saying is that i have a feeling that this is not the way forward.
And given that we are living a globalised world and given that i know that most people who are using the internet are not using it like me - for example they follow their friends, musicians and celebrities on twitter instead of people whose bios have to do with:
- given these things I think we are going towards a world where there is going to be a "digital literate elit", i.e. people that know the right things and the right people - and a "digital illiterate class" which will not be able to advance itself because it cannot use the internet to its advantage. And like in all early stages of new societies (i think at least with my limited sociology knowledge), the latter is going to be massive and the former tiny.
I am sure all the social media and web specialists have better terms for these groups of people.
I would also like to mention that I am not sure that the digital illiterates have it wrong. These people are out there socialising in the physical world or the digital world. After all, we are human beings: we want to entertain and amuse ourselves. Not all people are like me that I live on learning and working and if I do not have something to interest me I get depressed.
I repeat I am not sure these people have it wrong. But in terms of their careers and hence in terms of the position of this new society and their ability to put food on their table, they will definitely have a disadvantage.
And I am not talking about digital natives and immigrants because I sometimes feel that I am an immigrant too. Yes I am using most Web2.0 tools, yes I am very good at finding information online - maybe too good by the looks of it - but I am not as digitally native as I thought I was. Imagine what this little girl will be like when she reaches high-school:
I cannot even imagine!
It is not about the access to the information. Is about the fact that these people are not going to be looking for it. Not because they are stupid. Just because they are human. And with the speed that information is increasing, I cannot say that I blame them!!!!
Thank you for reading!
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