Even though geo-locational services are the rage, there is a broader meaning of local as “proximity to information”. The biggest drivers of proximity to information at the moment? Mobile devices, Internet access, search and contextual awareness (physical, social, situational).

Locality, Godalming, England

A nugget from Steve Randy Waldman in a post about financial innovation and small business equity investing:

I want to qualify that when I use the word “local” I really mean whatever you have the most direct information about, given the habits of your life. That might usually mean physical proximity, but not always. Every individual who meaningfully interacts in the economy is “located” by virtue of the information that they naturally acquire without having to do costly information work or rely upon the representations and opinions of others.

“Skim-and-plunge” changed my life (for the better).

Skimming Through, Berlin, Germany

Steven Berlin Johnson, Skim and Plunge, referencing Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”:

I think many of us who feel, unlike Carr, that Google has actually made us smarter operate in what I call “skim-and-plunge” mode. We skim through pages of search results or hyperlinked articles, getting a sense of the waters, and then, when we find something interesting, we dive in and read in a slower, more engaged mode. Yes, it is probably a bit harder to become immersed in deep contemplation today than it was sitting in library in 1985, But that kind of rapid-fire skimming and discovery would have been, for all intents and purposes, impossible before the web came along.

Increasing the surface area of a conversation, tracking through thoughts about valuing, measuring and delivering knowledge.

Tom Martin, How much is knowledge worth?:

All of this to say, I’ve been thinking what is knowledge worth? Both in terms of acquisition of knowledge but maybe more importantly in the selling of knowledge, which is kind of what many of us do. And I guess along those lines, once you figure out how much your knowledge is worth, then how do you go about charging for that?

My first comment:

Newspapers, magazines, books, blogs: largely, that’s data and information, not knowledge or wisdom.

Someone else’s knowledge is merely information to us until we’ve spent the time to translate it to our situations, our uses, our lives.

Listening, adapting, refining, customizing our knowledge while we deliver it: that’s how we create real, valuable, actionable knowledge for others. Scaling that, of course, is the issue :)

Tom’s reply:

Agree and disagree. Knowledge and information are synonymous in my mind. Wisdom does, as you note require context, insight, etc., and is surely where the “Value” comes in… in fact, I’ve been working on trying to create a service that does just that..would love to hear your thoughts on it http://www.insightandinformation.com

My second comment:

According to the definitions of information and knowledge, you’re right; I tend to use the terms too loosely.

But the process, challenges, and inefficiencies involved in translating knowledge so that another person can integrate it into their own knowledge set: that’s the real issue :)

As for Insight & Information: the real challenge isn’t in finding the most important bits of information/knowledge, but customizing it to the individual level to reduce the transaction costs of integrating knowledge. That’s the hard part to deliver at scale.

But Beth Harte explained my point of view better in her comment:

… That said, learning only leads to knowledge when you can link everything you’ve learned together in a usable, useful or meaningful manner. Regurgitating what you’ve learned isn’t knowledge unless it’s intellectually questioned and applied. And that takes time that so many people aren’t willing to spend…

So if you are the person that takes the time and does the above…that knowledge has and will continue to become valuable to other people.

Service-oriented organizations know that knowledge is capital and some charge a premium for having access to that knowledge, right?

Tom reframes the discussion:

I really like where this discussion is heading.. the whole idea that knowledge, in and of itself has a base value, the the real modifier of value is when that knowledge leads to actionable insights. Which leads me to the second half of the question… will companies today actually pay for “knowledge”? Will they pay for smart people to simply think and guide them?

Lastly, my reply:

Companies pay for knowledge (including advice without execution) every single day; the issue is not that they don’t pay for knowledge, but are they buying too much or too little? Are they getting value for their money?

The difficulty comes in that knowledge is difficult to value: how can we determine how much to pay for knowledge without being able to really estimate the value of the impact? How can we isolate the true value of the knowledge from everything else that impacts the business?

Perhaps the conversation can be continued at SXSW with this panel idea, Personal APIs: Better Living Through Collaboration?

Thoughts?

Related:

• Standford Encyclopedia of Philospohy, The Value of Knowledge
• Me, Relationship “contracts” need to be based on our inability to predict the future.
• Me, SXSW 2010 Panel Idea: Personal APIs: Better Living Through Collaboration

Pointing you to a guest post about my philosophy and tactics for effectively filtering through the information created on the web…

Me, from a guest post on JasonKeath.com about How I Filter the Noise:

Each one of us makes a very personal decision about how to find, filter and understand information to help us live our lives and succeed in our careers. Our goals, interests and personal styles shape what, why and how we sift through the content and context created by the maze of interactions on the web. Instead of focusing on the strategies and tactics that I use to filter the web, consider my own methods and tools as just the best way that I know how, right now, to achieve what I want; like all of us, I’m always looking for ideas and ways to improve.

Read the rest of the guest post for more about my general philosophy, tools and tactics for filtering through the information created on the web.

Thanks Jason for letting me participate in the series; I’m looking forward to learning from the rest of the contributors…

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Wondering why I’ve been a little quiet lately? At the moment, I’m on a little jaunt in Japan…