James Gleick's "The Information

James Gleick’s The Information follows the development and use of information. The book covers thousands of years of history in a narrative style, telling the story of information and its impact on us. Gleick focuses on modes of transmission, code languages, information in nature, and the post sixties information revolutions. He also invokes what it means for us to engage with information and how it in turn shapes who we are.

This book is appropriate for an audience of advanced professional/technical writers and practitioners who wish to advance their knowledge of the history of information. To understand where a field is heading it is helpful to ground one’s perspective in what has past. Understanding the continued proliferation of information helps orient the response in information design in architecture to an economy of attention scarcity.

The graphic represents the arch of information’s development. With the rise of technology (specifically, the personal computer), information can be transmitted and created in more and more different ways. The gradient arch shows the ‘density’ of information creation and transmission. The quick darkening of the gradient arch coincides with the rise of the personal computer. The x-axis shows the amount of information transmitted and the y-axis shows the time scale.

For full review of The Information follow this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oTBhhlz9b5iwTL-Bo64UMFgYeZNgkwbKr5fpUTnXYlM/edit?pli=1&hl=en_US

Content Curator

http://justwriteclick.com/2009/10/10/content-curation-a-manifesto/

http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/131472

Two blogs are in dialogue about the notion of a type of job particularly suited to the skills of professional and technical writers. Rohit Bhargava describes a Content Curator, "someone who continually finds, groups, organizes and shares the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online". He notes that experts predict that soon the volume of information produced online will double every 72 hours. The sheer volume of data will require someone who is versed ind ata organization.

Anne Gentle comments on Bhargava's blog and the discussion that took place on this post about Content Curation. She agrees with Bhargava that this job is ideally suited for professional and technical writers who already have experience developing, organizing, and editing content in a variety of media.

these articles are useful reading for any professional/technical writing student or professional considering where their career path may take them

Preliminary Review- "About Information Architecture" By Mark Hurst

In the blog posting, “About Information Architecture,” Mark Hurst discusses how despite their similarity and usual arrival at the same solution, terms “information architecture” and “costumer experience” both have their differences. Immediately, when viewing this document within the database and seeing its 4 star rating, it begs for analysis as to how a rating was determined. With such a short and in my opinion not very well written abstract, I have identified three things that Mark Hurst did well, things that give reason to the rating he received.

There are probably a numerous amount of things that can be applauded about in regards to this article, which led to the rating it received, but three in particular stood out. First thing that can be discussed is the way Mark Hurst clearly introduced and defined the terms in which he focused on. By using simple and easy language, Mark Hurst made this article very universal in that anyone, ranging from a PhD graduate, down to a high school student, could grasp and understand exactly what he was referring too. Although this is an overall benefit to anyone who may stumble upon this article, it can especially beneficial to students just embarking on their college careers and majors of professional writing or tele-communications.

Secondly, Hurst does something more than what the abstract mentions in the database. Aside from pointing out the differences there are between information architecture and costumer experience, Hurst provides readers an inside view into a debate that exists over these terms and the importance of them. He does this by providing a clipping of a heated email, which was received, following a conference he spoke at, showing how some people believe that costumer experience is not important.

The third and very last point I will touch on is the way in which Hurst makes this article personal and tells readers exactly why in his opinion his job matters and costumer experience matters. Hurst demonstrates the importance of his work, despite what some people may argue, as seen in the upset email he received, by listing his thoughts and reasons in a clear and concise order. Through this personal touch, students, career men and women, and just everyday individuals can see that through his opinion, that there is purpose behind the type of work being done and that both costumer experience is just as important as information architecture.

Overall this article was quick, clear and very well versed. Mark Hurst provided backing for his arguments with not just scholarly examples but with personal examples, which in my opinion can do and mean a lot more.