KQED recently did a show: Is Google Making Us Stupid? This interview got me thinking... Whether you agree or disagree, there is little doubt that heavy use of the internet changes how you think. You can feel it happening.
I get a lot of crap from coworkers (and other observers) because I keep a LOT of browser windows open at once (hundreds). However, as this discussion points out, the web makes it easy to gather information but it's rather poor at letting you ponder and consider this information. By keeping things in my context I can shuffle and reorganize the info. Sometimes I get ideas about something days after I've found it and have had time to consider the implications and reflect on the idea. This is because it's open in a window and in my consciousness - it stays in context.
There are other ways to solve this problem but I'll be the first to admit that it's not a problem that the internet is trying very hard to solve. The first problem was access and it seemed a daunting task. A decade later and they've given us Google and the rest of the search engines.
These tools have solved the gathering problem but they are very poor in regards to the absorption problem. Sure, they do relevance scoring and (spookishly) learn your preferences and habits. But this is still in support of gathering.
Some people use Instapaper or EverNote to try and file away found info but for me that doesn't solve the problem of reflection and consideration.
Consideration and thoughtfulness, not filing and recalling seems to have more to do with the quality of the content and it's relevance to you. The search engines match the relevance to the search - a subtle but important difference. Instapaper makes it easier to read things offline, so I use it as a reading browser but it is poor at filing and organizing. EverNote is good at filing and organizing but if I file things away, I never see them again. This, for me, is a danger for things I'm still exploring that I'm trying very hard to avoid.
Besides the browsers themselves, my most valuable tool for organizing and filing is still FreeMind but I avoid putting things into FreeMind until I understand the relevance and value of the information. Only things that have proved their worth make it into FreeMind.
Some make the argument, "Why file this away or try to organize it if I can just google it again and get it any time I want it?" That's a valid question and for me it comes down to context. In the context of how I've considered the idea and how I drew my conclusions, this or that article was key - so I want it filed away under that idea. For general information I definitely toss it back on the internet heap. But it's those gems, those diamonds that helped me really understand something that go into FreeMind.
Those are also the pages that sometimes stay open in my browser for days before I cycle back to that topic and realize what I have.
In that respect, I'm like the researcher who 20 years ago would keep files and newspaper clippings - ala Sherlock Holmes. I'm always interested in the ways that others do this.
What practices do you use to ponder and absorb the 21st century flood of info?
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