Last Thursday as part of the Sydney Writer’s Festival the CCP team - with some members joining from TRG and IP&I - headed down to the Sydney Theatre Wharf to hear James Gleick (the author of Chaos) in conversation to discuss his new book ‘The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood’.
The book discusses in detail the beginning of information gathering and communicating and the subsequent rise of information sharing thanks to technology.
The book chronicles the invention of writing and the creation of codes and charts which allow us to share information and that technology has allowed us to facilitate this sharing like never before. If anything we are now in a state of over sharing, a flood.
There were 3 ideas that resonated with me
1. As new technology becomes available there is panic in the ranks that it will ‘kill’ off other media. He used the example of how telegraphs were touted as the death of newspapers. If anything telegraphs helped newspapers to deliver news much more quickly making it more topical and relevant. This transition saw many newspapers changing their mastheads to incorporate 'telegraph' within them. It's an age old debate and still very much around today. In the end it will be these mediums ability to adapt to the flood of information and technology that will see them stay in the game - whether this is through moving online, or to tablets and apps etc
2. Due to this flood - the need for trusted advisors or curators of the flood of information are already starting to play a large role. Given how many sites we have at our fingertips we are more likely to return to a handful of ones we know. We know what we’ll get and we like that someone else has done the hard yards for us. It’s a case of putting content into context which we either don’t have time for or don’t want want to have to do
3. The need to disconnect in a time when we are more connected than ever. James spoke about the uneasiness that arises when we are not connected somehow, this was particularly poignant to me as I can already start to see my connection obsession starting to dominant how I give and receive information. More than ever it is important to create a space to disconnect regularly
If you want to listen to the discussion you can find it here: http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/sydneywritersfestival/
The group had a great couple of hours out of the office taking in Sydney Harbour and a very wondrous speaker that nudged us out of our usual day to day thinking
A big thanks to the CCP wondrous team for making it happen! Can’t wait for the next session
Kate Sutton
