Choice Control: The New Connectivity of Opinion Networks

It would seem that a number of bloggers & Twitterers/Tweets are converging on the Pew Internet & American Life Project at present, and its manifesting itself in various articles and reports that are appearing on Cnet's news blog.  It's also interesting that technologies such as Twitter allow people like me to discover fascinating components of reports that I'd previously sidestepped. 

As an example, several days ago I read fragments of blogs that referred to statistics that claim that girls are driving the blogosphere, and I'd also followed links to the Pew project site. However, today a Twitter reference from someone I've never met who 'attached' themselves to me as a follower posted a link to a Cnet report, Girls blog, boys post video, which is recursively prompting me to go back to the read more deeply and to investigate the claim that "Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation" (according to the study).

As fascinating as the topic of gender domination on the web is - and I'll definitely be looking at it more in the near future - the means are sometimes just as important as the end, and I'm referring to how I actually got to this information.  In my 'old world' interactions I might choose to read a certain subject or specific piece of literature because of a conversation at a party, or because I attend a seminar and a speaker sparks some interest, or because I read a positive review.  This is, however, changing, and at least from the sources and influences that I have, it seems like the culture of recommendation and approval is becoming increasingly active.  We have 'opinion centralization' sites such as Digg, but we still have the chaotic, unbridled means to distribute opinion and approval in our social circles.

This week I've been led to a video on the psychology of nightmares via a group email from a friend in Shanghai; the report I just referred to was via some I've never met but am 'socially' linked to via Twitter; a book was recommended to me from a friend in Hong Kong via Facebook.  I keep lists of my recommended books and music on Facebook; recommended websites via del.icio.us, and leave impressions of my recommendations and choices in all of these places and via these means.  The ability to mine this kind of data for social/market prediction and commercial gain has created new forms of business.  

There are a few questions I have about the power and potential of these new forms of recommendation and opinion transmission:

• What happens to those who aren't enmeshed in these networks?  There are those who are concerned about the 3rd world and their lack of access to information, but how different are we becoming from those in our own neighborhood who don't live within the Metaverse?
• How good are we at managing the deluge of increased connectivity?  Does it lead to attention deficit, lack of focus, lack of specialization, or are there other possibly detrimental consequences that may need to be addressed?
• Where does education and media literacy fit into all of this?  Critical analysis and deconstruction is a component of most modern education programs, but how many K-12 school programs focus on information management and time management.  I don't think it's good enough to just recommend a 'healthy maximum number of hours spent on a computer per day.' 

Ultimately, we have new 'power' to choose and to transmit our choices to others.  However, as the number of choices we have increases, decision making/time management will also become more complex and more demanding.  The potential benefits of increased connectivity are staggering, and the social discovery of knowledge is already 'enhanced.'  However, as we move forward let's remember that there is a "burden of choice," and that an upgrade in one domain (ie. access to and transmission of information and opinion) may demand an upgrade in another (ie. critical literacy, decision making, and time management).  

Choices, choices.

Image by Greefus Groinks.  Some Rights Reserved.