…just a little luck and a charged up camera handy…

If you’re on Facebook (like, who isn’t?), here’s a fan page you might want to keep an eye on if you’re into things like the Information Militia, social Networking, just just trying to keep up with the chaos that surrounds us (our contemporary environment is not described as ‘complex’ for nothing…). It’s Kendall Langston Social Media and Management Consultancy and has some great and very topical advice and links to articles etc…Yesterday or today – who can understand the Facebook clock system? – Kendall linked to this NY Times piece Buying, Selling and Twittering All the Way – it’s pretty light but an example of the information militia at work: only loosely organised at best but too much organisation would probably stifle the flow of information…thousands of people all adding their little bit to the picture…getting the information THEY need, when THEY need it and (hopefully) knowing what to do with it when it arrives…

That last section is one we added to the popular definition of knowledge management: it’s all very well getting the right information to the right people at the right time, as the KMers would have us do, but there didn’t seem to be much point if the recipients lack the skills or knowledge to employ it. We added ‘…and ensuring that they (the right people) know what to do with it – in this way we join the dots between lessons, doctrine and training.

In reading the NYT article, I was reminded of the picture painted by John Batelle in The Search ( a well-recommend read if you have any interest at all in information management and manipulation – it is fascinating look at Google from its early days and makes you wonder what ‘do no harm’ really means) of being able to shop and by using a bar scanner built into your phone, compare prices, create wish lists, check items against stock on the shelf at home (assuming you run an online domestic goods database, I guess). It’s all happening now and is being driven by ‘the people’, the information militia…

PS. I got my copy of The Search from Audible.com – worth a look if you do a lot of driving or gym work and need something to occupy your mind…