Comments on: Everything is Miscellaneous http://www.eggstrategy.com/blog/2007/07/everything-is-miscellaneous/ The Dozen is an eclectic take on innovation, branding, media, strategy and research, brought to you by the creative minds at Egg Strategy. Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:44:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Richard Band http://www.eggstrategy.com/blog/2007/07/everything-is-miscellaneous/comment-page-1/#comment-81 Richard Band Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:05:03 +0000 http://www.eggstrategy.com/blog/?p=193#comment-81 Definitely agree with Alison - our expectations on accessing any kind of information have been radically shaped by Google. Even though the technology is named a "search engine" - we have no stomach for a real "search" - it's really just a "find engine". I wonder what kind of information is left that we really enjoy "searching" for - i.e. the pleasure of the hunt. Does that even exist anymore? Definitely agree with Alison - our expectations on accessing any kind of information have been radically shaped by Google. Even though the technology is named a “search engine” - we have no stomach for a real “search” - it’s really just a “find engine”. I wonder what kind of information is left that we really enjoy “searching” for - i.e. the pleasure of the hunt. Does that even exist anymore?

]]> By: Alison Munsell http://www.eggstrategy.com/blog/2007/07/everything-is-miscellaneous/comment-page-1/#comment-80 Alison Munsell Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:00:26 +0000 http://www.eggstrategy.com/blog/?p=193#comment-80 Isn't it interesting how we get so used to every piece of information being networked for easy and intuitive access? I actually get highly agitated if anyone makes me think about how to get information. Even a second attempt at a Google search will send me into twitches of frustration. If I get onto a website and can’t find contact information within 20 seconds, I am likely to leave the site in disgust never to return. (There is simply no excuse in this day and age for bad UI, don’t get me started, I can wax poetic on that topic for the length of a Russian novel.) It’s hilarious when you think about how we used to find information just 10 years ago. Remember the Dewey Decimal system? Remember endlessly reciting your social security number and standing in interminable lines just to register for college? Remember Phone Books? Remember calling your answering machine from a pay phone to see if your friends had left you a message of where to meet them at a crowded event? Remember waiting for them? But what this fully linked information gives us is elevating everyone to non-linear thinking (should be read: strategic problem-solving). Very rarely is someone’s job description truly administrative in this day and age. Your average executive simply does not need a full time employee to organize and look up phone numbers for him/her anymore. And, so everyone moves up the value chain where creativity and initiative outshine rote and organization. How exciting! It is a brave new world, and I, for one, am not complaining. Pass the soma! Isn’t it interesting how we get so used to every piece of information being networked for easy and intuitive access? I actually get highly agitated if anyone makes me think about how to get information. Even a second attempt at a Google search will send me into twitches of frustration. If I get onto a website and can’t find contact information within 20 seconds, I am likely to leave the site in disgust never to return. (There is simply no excuse in this day and age for bad UI, don’t get me started, I can wax poetic on that topic for the length of a Russian novel.)

It’s hilarious when you think about how we used to find information just 10 years ago. Remember the Dewey Decimal system? Remember endlessly reciting your social security number and standing in interminable lines just to register for college? Remember Phone Books? Remember calling your answering machine from a pay phone to see if your friends had left you a message of where to meet them at a crowded event? Remember waiting for them?

But what this fully linked information gives us is elevating everyone to non-linear thinking (should be read: strategic problem-solving). Very rarely is someone’s job description truly administrative in this day and age. Your average executive simply does not need a full time employee to organize and look up phone numbers for him/her anymore. And, so everyone moves up the value chain where creativity and initiative outshine rote and organization. How exciting!

It is a brave new world, and I, for one, am not complaining. Pass the soma!

]]>