[ba-ohs-talk] Peer-to-what-peer?
Thursday's ba-ohs-talk and ba-unrev-talk email included follow-up discussions to
Jack's OHS Manifesto, a further introduction to Pepper, a recommendation we look at
another KM software named Info Select, the recommendation for a book by an Economist
writer about everything changing within the next century, and some more technical
stuff. Just in one day. (01)
These items are shared among a small number of people. Should these remain within
these forums? Or should the information be broadcast to a wider readership, which
also means be put in the context of the worlds of this wider readership? (02)
Another book, apparently interesting, "Ingenuity" by some prof in British Columbia. I
understand from dinner conversation that it is about the increasing difficulty of
solving complex problems because they require peer-to-someone_else's_peer
interaction. In other words, we need to be able to make ourselves clear to other
people's peers. I also have an old item in Fleabyte named, "Wanted scientists trained
in both biology and computer science." (The source was a June 1999 issue of The
Economist.) (03)
Basically, that would the function of the media, but as things stand , the free flow
of information through print media is handicapped by subscription fees as indeed is
also the case for some interesting online media. Their essential function is the
generate advertisement income and fill the space between the ads with some stuff
that, it is hoped, draws a readership for those ads. And notice how writers for
computer publications usually do not provide source references, that the press is
more concerned about protecting their turf than in disseminating useful information. (04)
With people getting more and more involved in an ever widening variety of endeavors,
we need media to meet that need. Those media need magnets to pull in material and
workers to judge its value, convert it and organize this material to broadcast it as
general information with leads available for follow-through. (05)
I am hoping - still hoping - that Fleabyte may learn to meet the kind of needs we are
talking about here. Question I ask myseldf is. what can I, as a single person, do to
speed up the development processes related to its publication? How can we get people
from various professional groups in society to understand one another's problems, the
potential ways to solutions, and how can we slake the dividers that keep solutions
out of sight of the problems? (06)
Would it not be of interest to find a way to give potential users a quick taste
(rather than merely an article) of what Pepper and InfoSelect in a manner that
respects that everybody leads a busy life? Would it not be useful to give a bit
clearer idea of the content of "Death of Distance" and if "Ingenuity." (Incidentally,
I have already asked for a short essay on key points made in "Ingenuity" and let me
use this opportunity to ask for something similar about "Death of Distance.")) (07)
One reason for having an e-journal in the Bootstrap context is that an unrev-II list
with nearly 4000 posts seems to be mostly a graveyard for good ideas. That's not what
we want, or is it? Can I be of help here? How? (08)
Henry (09)