[p2p-research] Information Filtering | Tactical Philanthropy

[Paul D. Fernhout]

Someone recently brought the theme of information filtering up, and I've 
been thinking about it some.

From:
   "Information Filtering | Tactical Philanthropy"
   http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2009/02/information-filtering
"I wrote yesterday about my new use of Twitter (you can follow me at 
@TactPhil.  http://twitter.com/tactphil ) A lot of people who start using 
Twitter feel like “they can’t keep up” with all the postings. Sasha Dichter 
wrote yesterday about feeling “overwhelmed,” not just by Twitter, but my 
information overload in general. Sasha linked to this great video that 
suggests that no matter how overwhelmed with information you feel, the 
reality is that the overload is exponentially more than you know."

I've seen the video there before, but it is interesting. Here is a direct link:
   "Did You Know?"
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

I'm not sure I agree with the conclusion on the first linked page, but the 
comment from there is interesting, in the context of exponential growth:
"""
It used to be that if you were a smart person who wanted to be “in the know” 
and make good decisions, you were best served by seeking out as much 
information as possible. When I say that “it used to be,” I mean from the 
beginning of human history until about four years ago. The video points out 
that more information will be generated in 2009, than was created in the 
past 5,000 years. That a weeks worth of the New York Times holds more 
information than most Americans living during the 18th century were likely 
to encounter in a lifetime.
   How is it possible that we operate when the amount of information is 
growing at an exponential rate? The key is filtering.
   Today, smart people who want to be “in the know” need to figure out how 
to filter the information fire hose. The challenge is not finding 
information, but finding trusted “filters” and then absorbing information 
through them while ignoring the rest.
"""

I'm not sure I agree because information filtering was a whole big part of 
the Bush presidency problem. :-(
   http://www.uncuriousgeorge.org/
"Our purpose is to educate the public and the media about how President 
George W. Bush's lack of curiosity increases risk for himself, the nation, 
and the world."

One may need a balance of filtering and some continual testing and direct 
sampling (so, some curiosity. :-) So, there is a deep issue here, how to 
achieve a health balance on this, both as an individual and as part of a 
community.

Also, that video celebrates digital information but ignores all the basic 
stuff people knew thousands of years ago that we may not (about nature, 
about other people, about their own history and culture of stories, and so on.)

Related funny video (consider what is said/done at the end by the filtering 
father):
   "N00b Boyfriend"
   http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/08/19/1634233

Still, despite how unfair the humorous filtering situation may feel, 
filtering and the management of attention is really a vital thing for all 
creatures. A key aspect of life is to be a filter -- that is a primary 
aspect of a cell membrane, to let some things in and keep out others. Of 
course, how that basic principle translates into human cognition, community 
building, (or even parenting at different ages) is a different issue.

I'm not sure yet how one would formally distinguish "information filtering" 
from "information processing", as the two are related. An aspect of a 
"social semantic desktop" is essentially collaborative tagging, which is a 
form of filtering. Any community site like slashdot that has moderation and 
reputations also is filtering in that sense. Yet, in a way, one might also 
label that as collective "information processing". So, anyway, something to 
think about from the peer production aspect of p2p.

--Paul Fernhout
http://www.pdfernhout.net/