5 Reasons Why Activity Streams Will Save You From Information Overload

16 thoughts on “5 Reasons Why Activity Streams Will Save You From Information Overload”

  1. Estoy de acuerdo en que los modelos red social en la empresa la hacen ganar en competitividad, y en que estar al día de la actividad de la gente que te interesa en cualquier lugar, medio social o sistema en tiempo real con un formato cross-plataforma como ActivityStreams puede generar eficiencia empresarial por descubrimientos aparentemente casuales.

    En ese punto te doy la razón, y también en que la innovación y la economía del conocimiento encajan mal con la jerarquía y hay que dejar que los flujos de conocimiento circulen con más espontaneidad.

    Claro que podríamos hablar bastante de las barreras al cambio, de la necesidad de implicación de los CEOs y de todas esas causas que hacen que ese nuevo estilo no acabe de salir de la orbita de unos pocos, y en algunos pocos puestos y sectores, pero de eso mejor hablamos otro momento.

    Volviendo a las Streams- que también me parecen una de las propuestas mas interesantes del momento -no soy tan optimista. Al modelar lo que hacemos y comunicárlo de un modo sencillo, con un claro cambio de foco hacia la persona que puede elegir y filtrar, creo que nos van a traer mucho de bueno, pero la sobrecarga de información no tiene arreglo.

    Hubo un momento en que pensé que ante la avalancha la única solución era la personalización, pero ahora creo (y supongo que lo he leído en alguna parte que se me ha olvidado:-) que cuanto mas personalizas es peor, cuanto más relevancia peor, porque todo te interesa todo y no llegas.

    Hay que aprender a vivir con la superabundancia, simplemente. Eso sí –mientras leemos y digerimos- lo menos que podemos pedir es que nos interese –y si nos libramos de filtrar ¡Bienvenido sea!

  2. Information Overload today:
    Enemy = Get Zero Inbox => Work => Mission accomplished

    Information Overload tomorrow: ?

    Some people set them selfs goals like “this evening I get my inbox empty”. Or describe uncomfortably with “I have xyz unread mails”.

    One challenge of activity streams: People loose their ‘virtual’ goals – and need to describe feelings in different words…

    Personally I know what people are doing if a (social) place gets too crowded – they simply escape. MySpace, partly Twitter, Facebook Groups – they all show trends of loosing people sometimes. But what happens if the social place/activity stream is mandatory for your work? If you could not escape? #Panic

  3. Nice post, Luis. The second point, specifically, caught my attention because it is not an obvious way to think! That’s somewhat paradoxical and I love (and believe in) paradoxes. You get the stuff bombarded from all sides and therefore force the user to apply thought and filter what’s important.

    A metaphor that occurred to me is reading a book in your room vs reading a book in a library which allows you to see what others are reading, strike a conversation with them, announce something interesting you just read etc. While there are days when you will want to and must read something in solitude, it is fun to use the library for a group-reading session as well! 🙂

  4. I will integrate all five reasons in one, and I will use all five points in my support. So in this way we can support next one in search for answers, guidance or support. I no longer feel agree with the fact that every day I need to write and read emails, when I care for my technical growth and development. And specially when those emails are not in any ways related to my current tasks, and could be all solved using activity steams. What would I do when I am dedicated to an important project, but I do need to be updated with information flow around me. I use micro tools and streams to be updated. But taking the facts that I need to care about my Inbox, I wont be very happy to write stories, when I need to focus on more important things. I call it ease of use! Great post, thank you Luis!

  5. Nice read in that it makes you think about how we handle the information flow. I would comment that my experience has been that the higher an individual moves in an organization, the less you’ll see them using “social media” in any real transparent mode.

  6. Luis, One thing is funny. Reply to all is exactly what Twitter is.
    One giant reply to all.
    If I post anything even as a reply to someone, everyone else sees it.
    The good thing, as pointed out, is, yes, we no longer care about every little message.
    Luck or serendipity will bring us the information we need, when we need it? Searching or asking for it.
    The problem is this also breeds more of the dumber generation. The one that can no longer think for themselves and needs to ask “how to do” all the time.
    Like in the Matrix movie, if I need to fly a helicopter, it could get downloaded into me(don’t I wish!) but does this make us more or less prepared for the unexpected?
    Sorry to go off on a tangent but I guess I don’t entirely agree with the premise of this post.
    It is all information overload. We just have decided to ignore it favoring when we want data or details. The I generation indeed.

  7. nice article – i can see the potential …

    how can i quickly test / implement activity streams in my organization? i have to be able to host the solution inside my net infra – because of security policies …

    i know about open source versions of twitter style of communication – but i am wondering what is the standard / fastest way to start …

    some pointers would be greatly appreciated!

    thanks!

  8. I am going to be so dumb right now and ask how I get activity streams.

    I am not even on twitter, I get lots of discussions on Linked-in in my inbox, I want to know – is there a cool way to collate all this.

    Excuse my ignorance and social media web 2.0 infancy

    I would love some help

    cheers,

    Pete

  9. I always remember this GREAT advice form Nobel laureate Herb Simon, who in the 1950s(!) had this great idea/method for keeping track of important info/knowledge.

    When asked why he always seemed to know something about anything/everything, he purportedly responded. “Oh that’s easy — I keep my knowledge in my network” (i.e.NOT my head).

    So, in the network of life/business, what will you focus on? Your Node or Your Links? Probably should do both, but focus on the Links is more and more important.

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