Everything is Miscellaneous

Slide 2: Overview • The author • Key messages – Discussion about the book • Implications for education – Discussion • Conclusion and activity

Slide 3: About • Co-author of the best-seller The Cluetrain Manifesto, The author of the critically- acclaimed Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web. • He has a fellowship at Harvard Law's Berkman Center for the Internet & Society • Has been published in a wide variety of journals, including Wired, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Smithsonian, The Guardian...even TV Guide. • Was Senior Internet Advisor to the Howard Dean campaign • Called a "marketing guru" by the Wall Street Journal • Is a strategic marketing consultant to big name companies, as well as to small, innovative ones. • Wrote gags for Woody Allen for seven years • Has a Ph.D. in philosophy and was a college professor for 6 years • Has been a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered • Writes a column for Knowledge Management World and Il Sole 24 ore • Is a well-known blogger • Has been a dot-com entrepreneur and serves on the advisory boards of some well- known and some not-yet-known tech companies • Is frequently cited by national and international news media • Lives in Boston

Slide 4: Hello “He llo! Th a nks for dis c us s ing my book. I'm e a g e r to s e e wh a t you ma ke of it, e s pe c ia lly s inc e it is fa irly ope n-e nde d. (My  e ma il is s e lf@e vide nt.c om. Don't h e s ita te !) B e s t, Da vid W.”

Slide 5: Key messages • The laws around things change when they become digital • Filter on the way out, not the way in • Categorisation is doomed • Bottom up is the only way to cope

Slide 6: Information & the physical “In a ph ys ic a l s tore , e a s e of a c c e s s to informa tion c a n be me a s ure d with a pe dome te r” Cf.

Slide 7: Things we take for granted • In physical space, some things are nearer than others • Physical objects can only be in one place at one time • Physical space is shared • Human physical abilities are limited • Organisation needs to be orderly and neat

Slide 8: The music industry analogy

Slide 9: The music industry analogy "F o r d e c a d e s we 've b e e n b u ying a lb um s . We th ou g h t it wa s fo r a rtis tic re a s on s , b ut it wa s re a lly b e c a u s e th e e c o n om ic s o f th e ph ys ic a l world re q u ire d it: B u nd ling s o ng s in to lo ng -p la yin g a lb um s lowe re d th e p ro du c tio n, m a rke tin g , a nd d is trib u tio n c os ts ... As s o on a s m u s ic we n t d ig ita l, we le a rne d th a t th e n a tura l un it of m u s ic is th e tra c k. What does the record company do? • Market • Find/Filter • Produce physical product • Handle logistics required for physical product

Slide 10: And when it goes digital? Users handle logistics Users share Artists produce cheaply Artists sell directly Social services provide filter function Conc: why do we need a record industry?

Slide 11: The importance of categories In the physical world categories matter “We invest so much time in making sure our world isn’t miscellaneous in part because disorder is inefficient” “We’ve been raised as experts at keeping our physical environment well ordered, but our homespun ways of maintaining order are going to break” Scale changes things Conclusion: “The solution to the overabundance of information is more information”

Slide 12: Things in multiple places 1st gen – we mapped physical, we put files in folders 2nd gen – we use multiple terms to describe files and search The same thing can be in several places at once Libraries – books can only be in one category, because they’re physical

Slide 13: The order of order 1st order – need to organise the objects themselves 2nd order – physical objects separate info from actual object, e.g. catalog 3rd order – digital, content and its info “We h a ve e ntire indus trie s built on th e fa c t th a t th e pa pe r orde r s e ve re ly limits h ow th ing s c a n b e org a nis e d. Mus e ums , e duc a tiona l c urric ula , ne ws pa pe rs , th e tra ve l indus try, a nd te le vis ion s c h e dule s a re a ll ba s e d on th e a s s umption th a t in th e 2 nd orde r world we ne e d e xpe rts to g o th roug h informa tion, ide a s , a nd knowle dg e a nd put th e m ne a tly a wa y”

Slide 14: Amazon vs. Libraries The absurdity of the Dewey A whole range of metrics and system paths There is no perfect There is your classification classification Physical limitations No limitations Have to learn a system The system learns about you

Slide 15: New classification “Cla s s ific a tion is a powe r s trug g le – it is politic a l – be c a us e th e firs t two orde rs of orde r re quire th a t th e re be a winne r” Tagging – use any terms that are useful to you Folksonomies – bottom up taxonomy Data mining – we find relationships between item

Slide 16: Four new strategies Filter on the way out, not the way in Put each leaf on as many branches as possible Everything is metadata and everything can be a label Give up control

Slide 17: Discussion Michael Wesch video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =-4CV05HyAbM Do you agree with Weinberger’s analysis? What are the important messages?

Slide 18: For education Wikipedia vs Britannica Digg vs Newspapers Stumbleupon vs Journals Is it an either/or?

Slide 19: Granularity Size of courses Size of publications

Slide 20: Socially constructed knowledge “Our c h ildre n a re doing th e ir h ome work s oc ia lly e ve n th oug h th e y’re g ra de d a nd te s te d a s if th e y’re doing th e ir work in is ola tion booth s ” Assessment What are we teaching?

Slide 21: Messiness Education is about order, filtering stuff out But in the 3rd order the more you add the greater the value, because you can’t predict use What sort of content do we produce, promote, reward

Slide 22: Authority The removal of the filter Democratisation of authority Can the new metrics be cheated? Are they more reliable than the old ones?

Slide 23: A small example Weinberger, D. (2007) Everything is miscellaneous: The power of the new digital disorder. Times books. ““Cla s s ific a tion is a powe r s trug g le – it is politic a l – be c a us e th e firs t two orde rs of orde r re quire th a t th e re be a winne r” ISBN-13 9780805080438

Slide 24: Discussion What do the four strategies mean for education: Filter on the way out, not the way in Put each leaf on as many branches as possible Everything is metadata and everything can be a label Give up control

Slide 25: Activity Write 3 words that describe the book Social construction via Twitter Let’s cloud tag it! http://tagcrowd.com/