Learning How to Filter...

When I was about 10 years old, I started to take an interest in driving. I was ready to hit the road. Watching my mother drive, I was amazed at how she managed to keep track of everything around her, stay on the road, read all the signs, including the car gauges such as the all important speedometer. (Once I even tried to count the white road lines - impossible)

There was simply too much information for me to digest in real time... and when traffic was bad, forget it.

Years later, when I did get my chance behind the wheel; along with rules of the road, I learned how to ignore irrelevant activity and information (noise). When I began to teach my own children how to drive, I remember teaching them what to watch for... the small child playing on the curb as you drive by... basically what I felt was relevant when driving.

With all the resources online today, we hear a lot of complaints about information overload. I'm sure we have all felt overwhelmed at times, just as I did in my first driving lesson. Our challenge is to learn how to filter information.

If you think about it, we have been doing this all our lives. I was reminded of this fact when reading the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon.

Chapter 181. I see everything

if they are in the countryside, it might be

1. I am standing in a field that is full of grass.
2. There are some cows in the fields.
3. It is sunny with a few clouds.
4. There are some flowers in the grass.
5. There is a village in the distance.

...

and I notice these things

1. There are 19 cows in the field, 15 of which are black and white and 4 of which are brown and white.
2. There is a village in the distance which has 31 visible houses and a church with a square tower, not a spire.
3. There are ridges in the field, which means that in medieval times it was what is called a ridge and furrow filed and people who lived in the village would have a ridge each to do farming on.
4. There is an old plastic bag from Asda in the hedge and a squashed Coca-Colo can with a small snail on it, and a long piece of orange string.

...

Remember the first time you visited a very large and busy city? Didn't you feel overwhelmed? In time, you became more comfortable with your environment. Why? Because you learned how to filter out the noise and pay attention to those things which are relevant to you. We do this every day.

The Internet with all its services, information and technology can be very overwhelming, but in time, you can become both comfortable and productive once you begin to filter information in a meaningful way. Of course this requires that you participate. You can't develop filters without participation. It also helps to have tools which assist you in this process.

For me, this is one of the real payoffs for social networking. Good social networking tools help me filter information with people who share my interests both personal and professionally.

Another challenge for those who are in the business of publishing information is to make our content "filter friendly". What are the best filter tools? We have always talked about being "Google friendly". And while that is a must, we also need to consider how to become filter friendly in many new enviroments where people work and play.

Photo by Kyle May