GREAT ADAPTATIONS

Catching up with my brain

While preparing my notes and whiteboard scribbles for a corporate presentation tomorrow, I realized I had not articulated some concepts I refer to often. In my journal.

Remember, folks, the global brain does not carry your information unless you upload it. So I’m writing today about thought sourcing. If you Google “thoughtsourcing,” you get references which contain sentences like “what they thought sourcing was…” Well. That’s not it. That’s about sourcing. Not thoughtsourcing.

(Before I go any further, let me state clearly:  My use of thoughtsourcing is NOT “outsourcing your thoughts.” What Nick Nanton called “The 8th Deadly Sin” in his article in January 2009 is a completely different animal, and, to my mind, a good example of how we often jump the gun with a negative reaction before we really see what can be done with instant and exponential communication. Nick’s concern was that people stop thinking for themselves and draw from the collective without any creative effort of their own. I believe it is quite the opposite. In my Glossary, I put Nick’s definition as the second possibility for this term. Consider this disclaimed.)

Thoughtsourcing

Thoughtsourcing is using modern communication tools (digital) to feedback an answer, a segment of an answer, an expansion of any kind – on your own thought.

Bringing it down to earth a bit more, I could say that “thoughtsourcing” is in the same ball field as what we do when we use Twitter to “crowdsource” and get answers to questions or come up with some research data. But it’s more than that.

Cloud Alchemy

Let’s back up and reference that other term in the title, cloud alchemy: Connecting the thoughts of two or more people on the Internet in a meaningful way to create a new synergy, a new statement or definition or resource or investigation. Cloud alchemy can be done in a few different ways, but it speaks to the new capacity of the global brain to think as an organism.

I think, therefore I tweet

Thoughtsourcing happens when a skilled new-media user employs a tool like Twitter, for example, to almost instantly answer a question or fill in a blank. A new-media user with a broad range of skills can obtain the next piece of information related to their own thought so quickly that it mimics the human thought process. It’s still thousands of times longer than thought itself, but it is so fast now, we can start to see the future through it.

It’s not crowdsourcing

Thoughtsourcing is faster than crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing has its own value and purpose. Thought sourcing is an individual’s extended reach, through their organized and informed use of new media, into the global brain, where they can cherry-pick a trusted source and zero in on an answer – or a new perspective – which does not require further research to validate. The sourcer (ooo, sourcer!!) can then promptly move on to the next thought with new information integrated.

A global brain area, properly connected, means the participants can thoughtsource each other, which makes them all more efficient and more intelligent.

So go do some cloud alchemy. Bring your sources closer together by introducing your best peers to one another. Make a new brain area strong and effective and meaningful.

Be well, friends.

Suzanna Stinnett

*train of thought illustration (c) Suzanna Stinnett 2008

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Jump ahead of the “conversation”

In the morass that is analysis of social media, branding, and consumer sentiment revealed, I see one choice a corporate entity can make. Jump ahead of the “conversation” by producing a focused media piece which helps the public see that you know how to offer value through new media. By innovating your own media piece, you control its appearance – and may be able to quantify public sentiment directed at the piece.

For example, a large company might decide to create a specific social presence through new media, as a particular type of educator. This presence is, at first, an addendum to who they already are. (It’s not enough to have an F.A.Q. on the website, though it is a good start.)

Plan your own media piece

What the company can do is plan their new media presence around an educational product. Let’s say a solar company produces a short video suitable for school-age children, explaining how solar works. By including this in their branding, they may become more memorable and more approachable to parents and grandparents. This can be extended as far as the company wants to go. Note: Avoid any scent of company propaganda. Answer tough questions head-on. Think legacy.

Analysis isn’t very analytical right now

Rather than flail around looking for a lighted path on a huge and changeable ocean, companies can develop a special presence which inherently shows who they are and where they’re going. Trying to quantify how the public views your product or your company by looking at the conversation on Twitter, for example, is not yet proven to be worthwhile. Give your public a place to gather which is a real gift, not a sales channel.

A people piece helps people relate

Proactive innovation, making use of crowdsourced ideas and rewarding the crowd with recognition, could take a company closer to their goal. The goal should be to be “favored” in new media. Creating your own funnel of appropriate information allows you to measure views, participation, and sentiment. Monitoring becomes more focused and more meaningful.

Okay, over to your brain: Comments now being accepted!

Suzanna

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I was so exhilarated by this term in the title of Stewart Brand’s new book that I decided to launch a conversation about new words in our conversation-culture vernacular. I’ve already put these definitions in my Glossary, but I’d love to have some voices weighing in here. Check what I’ve carved out and if you have any ideas or comments, go right ahead and post them here. Go on, I’m waiting!

Recent additions to the Great Adaptations Glossary

Ecopragmatist: Without reading his new book or checking with Stewart Brand, who probably coined this term, I’ll define it this way -

“An ecopragmatist is a person who cares enough about a cause to set emotion aside and continually integrate, articulate, discuss and act upon new data. An ecopragmatist must surely be a big-picture thinker – or surround herself with others who bring a larger view to the table. Read his book, “Whole Earth Discipline: An ecopragmatist manifesto” if you want the authoritative definition.”

Social Proof: 1) Wikipedia admits that a better term is “informational social influence” as it defines social proof as basically herd behavior. I disagree.

2) The Stinnett definition rides on the strength of the word “proof” and reads:

“I’d say social proof consists of the viewable accumulation of testimony. Including outright testimonials (with some evidence they are real people), and some combination of: A following on Twitter with posts and replies, blog posts which show engagement in the conversation, other published items like white papers or ebooks, perhaps a Facebook group or page with some activity, and speaking engagements on the author’s topic. Proof means proof, not suggestion.”

Digital immigrant: n. Those of us who were not born into the digital world, but have, at some later point in our lives, become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology. Digital immigrants (like all immigrants) retain, to some degree, their “accent,” that is, their foot in the past. Examples of the accent can be seen in such things as turning to the Internet for information second rather than first. A digital native would call a digital camera “my new camera,” while a digital immigrant would refer to it as “my new digital camera.”(Definition derived from Marc Prensky.)

Digital Native: n. Person born in the mid 1990s or later, with immediate exposure to multi-media.  Neural pathways may be physically changed. “… wired different, paved to an on-ramp to the Information Super Highway,” according to a handful of neuroscientists. Coined by futurist Marc Prensky.

Internet Hero: n. Regular person using technology to engage an ever-expanding community with ever-more-focused material.

That’s about enough for today. What do you think?

———————-I’m all ears!————————–

We’re all young pups when it come to the wide world of modern communication. Much of what we are now starting to use was only invented in the last 18-36 months. While we explore our too-numerous options and skirt the edge of overwhelm, (or fall right into that pit), it does help to keep the rewards in mind.

Those of us who have given in to the learning curves of technology are wheeling along in a new world of connection and possibility. I like to think of it as forming my own area in the global brain. My global brain area includes a whole lot of interesting, helpful people. They live nearby and they live on the other side of the planet. We are connecting across our diversity and benefiting from it. I’ve even met a few people I hope to keep as friends for the long haul. It’s a global community, a neighborhood defined by our willingness to connect. And because I keep plugging away at the new-best-tools, I’m finding more ease of organization. That’s one reward.

I’ll tell you more specifics at another time. For now, I’m sending you over to this great little list of iPhone apps that help your brain keep growing.

By the way, I’d add one to the Science and Mathematics category. I like the one called Pi Brain. It’s an app that prompts your memorization of pi. Yes, I memorize pi. How many do you know? You can read about it here: Pi Brain.

Here’s Adrienne Carlson’s post on 100 iPhone apps to boost your brain power.

Have fun!

Suzanna