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1.415.644.5795 Almost from the inception of Brainpark one of the things we wanted to move beyond was search (see one of Brydon’s earlier blog posts). We recognized that the majority of people spend a significant amount of time searching for information from various sources. Scenario: someone asks you if you can help them on a particular task. You know you have done something like this before and have the information to help. The problem is, some of the information is in your browser bookmarks, some is in files on your hard drive, the rest is mixed up in email and project tools. Being the decent person you are…you spend an hour or two searching and trying to rebuild the information for your own and someone else’s benefit.
Rebuilding history is rarely accurate as you have only so much information your retain. Plus it is a laborious exercise that takes some serious commitment. On top of that, each place you search presents you with other information you weren’t looking for. Before you know if you are re-reading other documents and websites that have nothing to do with the current task. If you allowed yourself (or had some time to spare) you could spend a day searching and reading only to get to 5PM and realize you are no further ahead on your work than when you sat down in the morning.
“The problem is, some of the information is in your browser bookmarks, some is in files on your hard drive, the rest is mixed up in email and project tools. Being the decent person you are…you spend an hour or two searching and trying to rebuild the information for your own and someone else’s benefit.”
We have an insatiable appetite for information. We can’t get enough of it. Search has become an addiction for many. The first thing we see folks wanting to do in a situation with lots of information is to start searching it (and often for no focused reason). We also get a blank stare from many people when we mention that we don’t use tagging and search to help you get your job done. We are discovering that one key aspect of our training sessions is to lead people beyond this way of functioning and to show them what computers can really do.
This recent post on Slate is fascinating. Here is a teaser: “We actually resemble nothing so much as those legendary lab rats that endlessly pressed a lever to give themselves a little electrical jolt to the brain. While we tap, tap away at our search engines, it appears we are stimulating the same system in our brains that scientists accidentally discovered more than 50 years ago when probing rat skulls.”
At Brainpark we are not working on a better way to search for information within a company. We are working to replace the whole notion of search. We believe there is a better way to work and a more productive system that can get your work done better and faster.
> We also get a blank stare from many people when we mention that we don’t use tagging and search to help you get your job done.
Funny but not surprised
Brainpark kinda reminds me of Thomas Kuhn’s “Paradigm Shift” ( The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and my fav book in college days ) where conceptual schemes, knowledge workstreams, emergence ( gestalt psychology ) are aggregated and embedded into enterprise business process flows for a refreshing epistemological perspective
Steve, thank you. I have never read Thomas Kuhn’s book but have just ordered it for the team here. Thank you for the recommendation.
Thanks for the link to the Slate argument – saved me having to google it
Very interesting!
You are welcome Matt, glad we were able to help.