Social Networks as
Information Filters
Lee Bryant, Headshift, June 2009

Introduction:
the affordances of the social web

socialisation of information

aggregation, feeds and flows

trust in loosely joined networks

open info + low cost of collective action

are we building an
“architecture of participation,”
or just more media consumption ?

sharing as a by-product of action

making invisible data visible

rapid feedback is the key to evolution

rapid feedback is the key to evolution

network productivity, not just personal

what does this mean for
how we manage information ?

‘real’ facts and de facto facts

‘real’ facts and de facto facts

‘real’ facts and de facto facts

expertise: individual & distributed models

expertise: individual & distributed models

verification: expert & community models

findability as an alternative to search

signals as an alternative to validation
(cc) http://www.flickr.com/photos/iconolith/458099966/

information overload
or filter failure?

The fallacy of codification & storage

weaving a fabric of information, links

the wrong sort of information overload

“Fast-moving”
The latest updates; also the most relevant
Now updates for my work (regardless of time)...
Intelligence from the wider world; what's
happening this week; news that more
directly affects me.
Intelligence from the wider world; what's
Short term happening this week; news that more
recent internalme....
directly affect information; long-term
exhibitions; scheduled work; staffing and
resourcing
Recent internal information; staffing and
Medium term resourcing, policies...
Facilities, branding, senior management,
Long term organisational structure, archive, phone
numbers, emergency procedures, technical
platforms...
phone numbers, emergency
procedures, services, platforms
Knowledge, market structures, culture,
Generational heuristics, orthodoxy, history
“Slow-moving”
info has variable velocity, but tools don’t

we need better filters and radar

ambient awareness, intuition, decisions

our social network ‘places’

social networks as information filter

democratising information:
negotiating language and meaning

knowledge is a social construct
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachklein/10115928/

Polysemy declines
rapidly for new
concepts as dominant
terms emerge
Semiotic dynamics and robot learning
From a lecture on AI by Prof. Luc Steels, Sony CS Lab, Paris: http://www.headshift.com/archives/002386.cfm

language, tagging and signals

language, tagging and signals

future for information professionals ?

information networkers, not filing clerks

information & guides, notnot filing clerks
teachers networkers, gatekeepers

simple summary::
social networks will become
our main information filters;
this will allow us greater control
of our own self-representation

Thanks for listening!
I am lee@headshift.com and live at
http://www.headshift.com
You can find this talk at
http://www.slideshare.net/leebryant
Except where otherwise stated, photos courtesy of Flickr using Creative Commons
license. Thanks to the following photographers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kacey/271663676/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/1303402061/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapeckham/164175205/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_irish/2379958609/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuan2003/403643949/
http://innovationcreators.com/wp/?p=194
http://www.23hq.com/kosmar/photo/2073293
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nestorgalina/1832456745/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iconolith/458099966/
http://www.digg.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/antmoose/71277315/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenguin/5274538/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/backpackphotography/257026830/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianboulos/36957265/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markrjones/47761183/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2216230980/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fluzo/52870555/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgt_spanky/35811144/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/105123875/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kacey/252912749/