At least two Diigo education groups have been created in the last three days. Think about it. There are many more similar groups on Diigo. Which one should I join? Should I join them all?
Help!!!! This is all getting a little out of control. I feel like it is the middle ages, a convicted criminal, four horses attached to my four limbs and they are all galloping in a different direction. Should I join that Ning? Should I follow that group? What about Diigo? Yeeeaaaagggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Time to move to another planet. At least get out and take some photographs and have a quiet beer.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Yup … choice fatigue, and too much choice leads to paralysis.
I’ll likely join one of the groups, maybe all of them, however, I am doubtful that any of the groups will have a long lifespan. It’s just the way it is. There are just too many things going on, there is not enough attention to go around.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Alec, Thanks. Too much choice does create paralysis. Like the aisles in a supermarket. Too much choice is a legacy of the twentieth century I guess.
Well, I did get out to take some photographs and as opposed to a beer I had a cappuccino and I am about to sip a glass of red.
March 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Whilst John I know that you were a bit concerned for me based on your response to my post on wireless access I have to say I with you. Can we please set up a group for anti rushing off and testing every new tool? Actually I believe Alec can’t join us as he has been testing lots of new applications and tools recently .
Basically I made a decision a long time ago that I would go crazy if I jumped on every swarm for the next tool. So now what I do is let them go for it and if their enthusiasm lasts several weeks I know it is worth checking out. Followed this process with Powce, Google Presentations, Seemic.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Thanks Sue. I have been caught up in the swarming from time to time but I agree with you that sitting back and waiting for the dust to settle is a good idea.
I use that approach with hard technology. Why not with software tools? My wife and I are yet to buy a flat screen TV. We are still watching the $50.00 TV we bought at a garage sale.
Set up a new group? *^_^* What should we call it? “Clayton’s 2.0″? The group you have when you are not having a group?
Cheers, John
March 30th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I have to admit that you said exactly what I was thinking. I tend to be one of the last ones to join something because I usually let others join and work out the bugs or I let others join and I watch the conversation. If it dies down, I don’t join but if I see that it is popular and everyone else things it is wonderful, I think about joining. Unfortunately I have joined so many things that instead of using them, they just sit there among the abandoned “stuff” that I have no time for.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Hi Pat,
Thanks for the comment. I made up a list the other day of the things I have joined it goes beyond an A4 sheet. As I do in my workshops… focus on the core technologies that are meaningful, practical and stable. Tools like blogs and wikis. Podcasts as well. These are the technologies that bosses and administrators can more easily identify with as well. The other tools can be used along the way when a suitable opportunity appears in your radar.
Cheers, John.
March 31st, 2008 at 4:57 am
I have avoided joining too many groups. I have resisted ning and after a disastrous fling with Diigo I decided to take a closer look at my one and only social network “Twitter”. I did some Spring Twitter Cleaning, Went through favorites, bookmarked the keepers, trashed the rest, same with followers and those that I follow. If they have contributed to the network and continue to join in conversation they are keepers, if they are not contributing or only participate in “clique” discussions, they are gone. This has really streamlined the flow of information for me, and I am finding my freshly “Spring Cleaned” network to be of great value. Less is more!
March 31st, 2008 at 9:24 am
Thanks for the comment Brian. Spring Cleaning Twitter. I need to do that. What was that process like? How would you define a ‘clique’ discussion? I am intrigued.
I no longer actively add users now. I wait for people to add me. I check them out and if I feel okay with it I add them. That is really all I have time to do in a real practical sense.
Still on the curious side. I am not a heavy user. How do you think my contribution would be defined?
Cheers, John
March 31st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Very interesting discussion. As contributor to me.edu.au I get a sense of people getting overcrowded in the social networking world. I suspect that simplicity is the key, and services that have limited functions and do them well will be useful.
June 30th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
[...] since I was seemingly in a drunken web 2.0 haze I signed up for Diigo despite my digs here, here and here (scroll down) I will have to thoroughly explore Diigo in order to derive the [...]
July 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
[...] John Larkin’s blog struck a chord with me when he talked about signing up for everything under the sun ‘in a drunken Web 2.0 haze’. Me too. My ‘registrations’ information word doc is now into its third page – yes, you heard correctly. But what am I to do!? There’s so much out there, and I’m like a child in a lolly shop. All the lollies are free, did I mention? As John says, ‘too much choice does create paralysis. Like the aisles in a supermarket. Too much choice is a legacy of the twentieth century I guess’. And I do love knowledge, discussion, recommendation, links to fabulous resources. And I love passing these on to other people. Still, this weekend I have done other things: boring house stuff, baked a blueberry crumble cake, helped my younger son with a project about earthquake-safe houses, bought a barbecue, watched an energizing Nigel Kennedy concert on DVD, had breakfast at Brunetti’s, visited Wunderkammer, read my older son’s year 12 psychology research essay, played with the dog…. so you see, it’s not that bad. I loved one of the comments on John Larkin’s blog: ‘Set up a new group? *^_^* What should we call it? “Clayton’s 2.0″? The group you have when you are not having a group?’ [...]