Today, I got to wondering what exactly the defining aspect of the Information Age is.  What is it that really sets it apart and defines it from an observable perspective?  I am sure that many of you have your own opinions about this, but here is what I came up with.

The defining characteristic of the Information Age is the ever shrinking time/distance between thought and action.  This contemplation was in no small part motivated by the recent events unfolding associated with the disputed Iranian elections.  It is impossible not to conclude that we are seeing something fundamentally new taking place when the mainstream media are reporting Twitter and YouTube content in place of anything that they have, can verify, or stand behind.  Something has shifted in our world when our basic institutions cannot even pretend to keep up and do their jobs.

The length of time between when someone has a thought and others act on it has been decreasing for decades and is fast approaching zero.  The time that it takes information to travel effective distances, by that I mean from one person in one place to another far away, is also getting smaller and approaching zero.  That is what generates disruption in the Information Age and what our societies, technology, and assumptions are struggling to cope with.

Once upon a time, a genius had a thought and recorded it in writing.  Months later that thought might be printed in a book.  Months after others had read the manuscript, they would comment on it.  It would take years for those collected thoughts and responses to find their way to a next generation that had a practical application for it and took action. The same process that existed in ancient Greece and took years there basically continued unchanged after the printing press arrived.  The process was the same, but the breadth and coverage of those ideas multiplied. This example fits best to scientific discoveries.  If you take a social example, like female suffrage for instance, the timeline is even more extended as each culture applies its own lenses and feedback to the process.  The thought to action gap was measured in years up until very recently.

Today, in the Information Age, we have removed nearly all of the delays in this chain of events.  There is no paper in our idea recording anymore.  There is no physical material required for our Internet and wireless enabled communications methods.  There is no limit to the number of people who can collaborate in real-time on a project or thought.  There is no cost to distribution or consumption.  There is no delay or cost associated with collapsing the distances between people all over the globe.  The Internet never sleeps and yet simultaneously delivers its content to the four corners of the planet.  Ideas can morph through dozens of evolutionary generations within hours as they crisscross the globe.  Distance does not matter.  Time does not matter.  Space does not matter.  The thought to action gap is nearly gone. and it basically happened "overnight" in human terms.

The Information Age is driving us all quickly towards a point where everyone on the plant who desires to know about something can share in the simultaneous receipt, processing, and action on that topic.  Thoughts occurring in one place can be shared around the globe in real time.  Actions can be taken on information in that same real time.

I do not think that we, humans, know how to deal with it.  I do not believe that we, as a species, have developed the capability to act yet in that environment.  I do not see our governments or institutions responding quickly enough to this reality.

I don’t know what the answers are, what the future will hold, or what comes next, but I do know that Information Professionals are at the center of this revolution.  I am glad that I am one.

What do you think?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 23, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin .

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