Editorial
Now: Making Information Visible
We're nearing the close of the current Topic Series, "Making Information Visible", and I'm struck by how immediate, practical and even personal the insights involved seem to be. The latest Subscription Update offers a quick summary of the most recent content, and you can see all the content produced in the series from the Topic Category page.
In any knowledge-driven organisation, we workers are bombarded with information. Some of it is critical to enabling us to do our jobs. Some is useful but not critical. Much of it is noise and distraction.
How do we keep ourselves sane - let alone productive - in such an environment? Through careful management of the
right technologies, delivering the right content, and cultivating the right user behaviour. Whether you email information, pick up the phone to deliver it, report via a project management tool or add a note to a database record will make an enormous difference in visibility and thus usefulness of the information.
If it's not where it's supposed to be, it won't be visible to the appropriate user at the time of need.
I'm thinking hard about these insights as I work on my analysis of the results of our FreePint Survey: Making Information Visible, which I previewed on our blog and which will be published shortly. 145 respondents shared feedback and comments on the barriers they face in making information visible, as well as their successes.
One thing is clear as an overarching theme: in an information-rich age, visibility is achieved through creative thinking and collaborative teamwork across different sets of skills and perspectives.
Soon: Best Practices in Information Skills Development
At the same time, I'm working on the research that will underpin next quarter's Topic Series, "Best Practices in Information Skills Development", set to run from April through June. Check out the introduction from co-producers Val Skelton and Sarah Huibregtse.
Take advantage of this coming series to add to your tools and techniques for developing your own skills, those of other information professionals, and those of your broader audience of end users. We're all information workers. Let's raise the bar for everyone.
Register your interest and you'll get our free preview report as well as editorial updates throughout the series.
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