Free Flow of Info

Friends and co-workers have been forwarding me interesting articles - all with the same theme: The way that we collect and disseminate information is rapidly changing.

1. The way that people gather their information is rapidly changing. A recent study by BIGResearch shows that 18 to 24 year olds are spending more and more time reading blogs, IM, IPODs and other new media outlets.

2. Everyone in the world has an outlet now and their own voice. Information is now being disseminated now through camera phones, mobile blogs and remote audio recorders. The way news and information is reportred is changing. The coverate of the 7/7 London bombing shows that more than ever before, citizen journalists provided some of the best coverage.

3. RSS is an evolutionary step.

In 1996 we simply browsed for information (html)
In 2002 - search for information (yahoo and google)
2006 - subscribe to information (RSS)
Browse->Search->Subscribe

I watched an online channel 9 video from the Internet Explorer 7 team. They show how RSS is going to be used for more then blogs, podcasts and vblogs. One example the demonstrated was a new way to synchronize your schedule using RSS and information in icalander format. This means that any schedule program will be able to share information and have it updated immediately - Lotus Notes, Exchange, GroupWise - They all will be able to share information! Very cool stuff.

The time of personalized information management is upon us. We will use computers to automatically search, organize and present information in the way that we choose. RSS is the tool that enables this.