Far Wise in Knowledge Management

Links to paper & presentation information overload (OzChi)

Earlier this year (wow, August, time flies!), I wrote that a paper to which I contributed was accepted for the OzChi'06 conference in Sydney. It is titled "An Information Overload Study:  Using Design Methods for Understanding" and it describes studies we did in several organisations to find out what is information overload and how it is perceived by employees. 
One of the authors and former colleague was in Sydney to present the paper, which received many nice reactions. Here is the link to the paper and the presentation. The paper will also be available through the acm portal.

More rethinking on Le Web 3

Even in the Dutch journals there is attention for Le Web 3. One of the comments is "I didn't come to listen to French politicians". It is striking that many people comment on the invitations of the two French politicians and I don't read about the presence of Peres in a negative sense. What Peres said was impressing, whether it is directly related to a Web 3 or not. This man has a wisdom over him I didn't want to miss. Compared to him, the presentation of Sarkozy was from a different type: he came (lots of cameras, flash lights from photo cameras announced his arrival), presented something in French and left. No time for questions. It is not the behaviour that fits in a conference or in the interactive world that is suggested by Web 3, and I think that's what annoyed many people. But it is striking that they make time for a conference like this. As I said, it is Loics party, you may like it or not. At least Loics enthusiasm is contagious, I think.

I came to Le Web 3 without large expectations.  After the first day I didn't have the feeling I heard much news. Many open doors were kicked further open (man from Nokia: "We are about people. Connecting people". Please tell me something new). The best presentation came from Hans Rosling, the animations in his presentation were really nice. He talked about the picture of the world we have in relation to health. The animations showed from 1962 to 2005 for countries in the world how the improved with health; live expectancy related to familiy size.  We cannot say one continent is doing well or not, it depends on the country and the moment in time.  Countries go through different stages of modernisation (modernisation is the solution for better health, not globalisation). It reminded me of Freakonomics, the book I was reading in the train on my way to the conference.

The second day I started even more with the thought "we'll see". At least the panel sessions were more interesting and stimulating than the first day. (Btw, both days there was a lot of business focus) David Weinberger had a nice presentation. During this day the conference room became more empty every hour. Did people leave because of the change of programme? I don't know. I didn't wait till the end, so I missed Hugh McLeod's presentation (which was planned just before lunch), but at the time I left it was not clear what was to come.

I wonder what will happen next year. Le Web 4? Will it be sold out, like this year? For me, the topic "web" it too broad, so that will be a reason not to attend. Besides that, 1000 participants is quite a lot. I didn't know any one, felt a bit lost some times. I met a few nice persons, but I think it's easier in a smaller conference to get into contact with others.

Rethinking Le Web 3

Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 December I was in Paris, attending Le Web 3. It is the follow-up of Le Blog 2, which was last year in Paris, organised again by Loic Le Meur. Loic told that he organised it in only 8 weeks time and used no marketing to get an audience. Appearently he didn't need it, because about 1000 participants found their ways to Paris. The topic of this year was broader than (just) blogs, it covered all kinds of topics related to Web 3 (whatever that may be - is it the Web of the future or does it already exist?).

I'm still thinking how to summarise the conference. As with every conference, there are a lot of things you can say, about the speakers, the things they say, the organisation, the audience, the atmosphere, the food (this is France, food is important!) and so on.

What I certainly will not forget is the (pleasant) chaos on the second day. At certain moment I had no idea what the program was, presentations were skipped or moved to a later moment. Only because some extra "very important" visitors arrived. "Sorry, you have to stop your presentation, mister Peres has arrived". Well, I would not mind ending my presentation for Shimon Peres, but for a French election candidate (like Francois Bayrou or Nicolas Sarkozy), that is a different story. What they have to do with Web 3 is a good question, of course they have an opinion about it (or, about Internet in general) - is it however an interesting opinion? This was Loics idea: he sent out an e-mail to a few candidates, telling Peres is coming, will you come as well? It is clear: it's Loic's party and he likes us to be part of it. 

A question: what is Web 3.0, or, where are developments going? It seems to be all about content. Not the static one-way content we saw in the first generation web, but user-generated text (blogs), videos (vlogs), audio (podcasts) or virtual objects (Second Life).  Whether it is offered through the computer or mobile is no issue. I don't know how different this is from Web 2.0, which I think is more aimed at communication and collaboration (and sharing, but that is the overlap with the content-focus I heard for Web 3). Hardly anybody spoke about communication and collaboration - it was all content (which surprised me).

Another striking thing: obviously users cannot pay for this content. At least, that's what I learned from the business models that were presented. Companies look for advertisers or sponsors, but the users get the content for free. My question here: why can't users pay, if there is really added value for them? Or maybe for the service that leads them to the content. Is that impossible these days?

A last remark (more to Loic): where are the female presenters? You may call me feminist, but there were a lot of women in the audience but only few on the stage.

All kinds of book

Keeping an eye on the dog (and the cat), the best thing I can do is read a book. The last month I finished a lot of (non-fiction) books,  of which some I liked really much.

One book that waited to be finished was On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I loved this intelligently written book. The dialogues were fantastic and once I recognised the resemblance with E.M. Forster's Howards End (one of the main player's name is Howard, but that I only saw when I found the similarity of stories), I liked that as well - it's a daring thing to do. It's about culture, love, trust in two not-so-ordinary families.

Another book, which was a real page turner that took me 2 days to read, is Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. What a weird story, it looks more like a dream where past and present mix. We discussed this book in the (local English) book club. Some members liked, others not at all. The latter were disappointed that the book doesn't give answers on the questions that rise - it only suggests. Actually, I didn't care about the answers, I think I swallowed the book (compared to On Beauty, which took more chewing).

After the dream I fell back on earth with Disgrace of Coetzee.  How different can books be! But what an amazing book Coetzee wrote, how horrible as well. For me the book consisted of two parts: the first where the main person (David, a professor) seduces one of his students and he gets fired. I didn't like him at all, which changed a bit in the second part. That is when David lives with his daughter Lucy on the farm and they become victim of an attack by three black men. David is beaten,  but Lucy is raped and David is not able  to protect his daughter.  He then tries to help her, but she refuses his help - how can he understand. In this role of protective father I think David showed a more 'human' side. The book gives a lot to think about and I realise how little I know of South Africa and its history. After this book I needed a few days of rest and rethinking. Not a light book at all!

To change my mind I read my first Harry Potter, but I still think it's a children's book (however popular it is among adults). Finally I read The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini (in Dutch). A book about Afganistan, a country that I only know from what is said in news items. The story gives a nice portrait of an insecure boy and his friend, the son of his father's servant in Afganistan before the war and upcome of the Taliban. A tragical story, nicely written, though predictable at some points.