Monday, October 15, 2007

Road Trip

More.  Especially if you have been watching the stars…not just looking at the telescope. And if you wonder what I am referring to – read last week’s posting…

If you read it and haven’t gotten lost in the lens, so to speak…let’s get back to technology and how we make it inspirational – like the stars – and not just merely efficient, practical and yet another tool that we mistakenly allow to replace experiences.

It used to be that if you wanted information, you looked it up. We still do. Today we type a query into a computer field, and a list of possible sources pops up, in an order determined by others like you looking for the same or similar information – and sometimes simply by those paying more to have you see their POV. Sometimes the list is spot on, and there – magically – is all that we hoped for; all that we looked for; all that we could imagine on the subject.

Sometimes, though, we don’t hit on the first button press, and we are challenged to think creatively and often out of the box to tease what we really want from the acres of servers that are churning away 24/7 comparing searches, comparing users and matching information with question.  And then on the second, third or fourth try we hit pay dirt, and all is well. Or not and we leave in frustration.

Sidebar to all of this is the surrounding environment on the search page that is covered by paid advertising from people who think your search might benefit them too – although they like to think that it benefits you…So for example, if you search for yourself, you might be astounded to find that you or your belongings are for sale on eBay!

Let’s go back to the “it used to be” if you were looking for information. Whatever did we do before computer search? However did we find out information; do research; investigate; examine; explore?

How dull and uninformed we must have been…

Or…

You see, I think that often we gleaned important insight from our more manual searches – insight that we often seem to lack today.

We were forced to talk to people; we looked at original sources; we listened … live; we had tactile, hands-on texture to our inquiries; we experienced the search firsthand – its failures and success and most excitingly that eureka moment that came every once in a while when a whole new line of thinking opened before us because of a chance discovery and an exciting synapse jump.

This is not to say the same can’t happen via the computer; it can. It’s just that you have to work a little harder to make that eureka moment happen.

My fear is that we become complacent, because we think we have all the answers in the cloud, and we don’t go the extra human mile to get real deep and impactful and paradigm changing insight.

I always look for market signs. There is a movement back to live operator service support – even in all digital Web business. Why?

My sense is because traveling the information highway – now called the Internet or WWW – we can easily miss the exits and lose the value of local sightseeing.

Getting an e-mail about a problem is never like talking the issue out; hearing the issue; teasing out the real problem and maybe, just maybe, being able to solve it on the spot.

We need to get off the autobahn and the motorways – find the right (or at least interesting) exits and go exploring.

And here is my inspiration from one of the great road travelers of the last and this century:

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.”
Charles Kuralt

Don’t miss the local exits…don’t lose out on the beauty of a detour or two…who knows what you might find…

What do you think?

Posted by David on 10/15 at 09:07 AM
(22) Comments • Permalink

  1. A sat nav system will strip you of visual beauty when driving - calculating to the minute where you're supposed to go - you end up driving on a 2" screen, nevermind what's out of the windshield. But the www and internet is a bit more vast than driving routes metaphorically speaking or not. Without the www we'd all be working towards the same goals, all trying to figure out the same thing, and if you hit jackpot, who is there to tell? No-one or very little people. A good way to communicate findings and make our future brighter. Why spend days trying to solve what others have done? Surely with this saving of time we can expand our idea's and move forward, one step ahead of the game!

    Posted by stranger  on  2007-10-15 15:38:15

  2. I suggest everyone see Tracey & Hepburn in Desk Set. What did I use to do - call the "ask the library" number. A generation of people lacking in the social skills of communication is too one-dimensional to consider.

    Posted by Phyllis  on  2007-10-15 15:44:16

  3. To all you intrepid road trippers out there, check out the newly enhanced Microsoft Live Search at http://www.live.com Video and Image search are the best in the business, and the standard search is highly relevant. Google not being a client, we should all set Live Search as our default search engine. :-)

    Posted by Braden Kelley  on  2007-10-15 15:56:39

  4. Again, quoting Douglas Adams: '"Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?" "I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."' Loonquawl's anger is equal to someone getting irked at a search engine after not getting the answer they want. The search engine answered the question that was asked. If you put a single word into a search engine, you're providing zero context. It's the equivalent of walking up to a librarian and saying a single word, and expecting them to give you exactly the answer you need. I use a search engine exactly as I used to look up facts at a library...or when asking an expert in their field. Start general, and hone your question until you get to the answer you need. This process also has the added benefit of potentially helping you find questions you didn't know you had...and helps you shape your refined questions. "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." Pablo Picasso. True statement. But a person can use those answers to help formulate better questions, if they approach it in that manner, rather than just expecting a specific answer from a vague question.

    Posted by Glenn White  on  2007-10-15 17:11:55

  5. great postings all -- and live should be your search engine -- try it -- and comment.. Glenn you prove my point --

    Posted by david sable  on  2007-10-16 05:33:29

Page 1 of 1 pages