Nielsen says “write original articles based on deep thought and research” while Scoble says “link a lot.” Each has its place. They represent two different ways of meeting the world: knowledge mode and connected mode. At different times and in different circumstances, you’ll probably choose one or the other — though the web makes connected mode a really satisfying and productive way of working.
Examples of Nielsen-style knowledge work: detailed research reports, websites built with custom one-of-a-kind themes, most books, and most commercial and custom software development.
Examples of Scoble-style connected work: quick blog posts or link posts, online mashups, new websites using WordPress or other CMS with prebuilt themes and plugged-in widgets, wiki-style writing and research, and The Age of Conversation, a new book written by over one hundred people.
Let’s look at some characteristics of each mode:
- Creation vs. assembly. Nielsen-style knowledge work creates largely from scratch (though no one really builds anything entirely from elemental pieces). Connected work assembles goods from prebuilt resources, usually available online.
- Email vs. Instant messaging/Twittering. Nielsen-style knowledge work requires large blocks of unbroken time and asynchronous communications via email support that. Scoble-style connection work requires constant communication with people, and instant messaging or other real-time lightweight communications channels work well for that.
- Firewall vs. flow. Knowledge workers often try to protect their attention and limit it strictly to whatever from-scratch project they’re working on (for example, an article of the type Nielsen proposes). Connection workers keep their attention diffuse and agile, looking for opportunities across different projects and domains.
- Swimmers vs. surfers. Knowledge workers may dunk themselves entirely in one part of the information ocean, while connection workers surf, staying on top of vast quantities of information, where they have a broad perspective across many subjects and efforts.
- Expert authority vs. wisdom of crowds. The expert authority of knowledge mode is built upon one person’s accrued credibility and perceived expertise. The wisdom of crowds of connected mode comes from the aggregation of diverse opinions and contributions across people with access to different sources of information and with different perspectives.
- Secrets vs. sharing. Connected mode doesn’t work if everyone keeps all the good stuff for themselves; it’s by sharing and building upon and multiplying the value of what other people have done that creates an expanding ideasphere for everyone to benefit from. Knowledge work, on the other hand, relies on keeping information and ideas protected by licensing restrictions and other barriers to acquisition and use.
Judging knowledge mode work from the perspective of connected mode or vice versa may lead you to underestimate the value of each mode. I’d venture a guess that it’s harder right now for connected mode people like Scoble to get respect, because the current working culture in the U.S. says that independent, focused expertise is more valuable than creating and building upon connections.
8 Comments
yet more good stuff Anne. one further issue to consider is organizational expertise/brand. that is, a 25 year old Ernst and Young guy can be perceived to have more authority than a 45 year old practitioner, regardless of actual expertise. so i am not sure expert authority is necessarily “one person”
Good point, James, perceived expert authority often derives from an organization rather than the person him or herself.
Some interesting thoughts.
It would be good to see some evidence for your suggestions of the examples of the separation (if one truly exists) between what you term knowledge and connected work, particularly given the essence of knowledge work is in sharing knowledge and information, not, as you suggest, it being ’secrets vs sharing’.
M
Think of Microsoft’s business model built on licensing and strict control of their information goods vs. Google’s of sharing information goods and monetizing the sharing. Or how Dun & Bradstreet licenses their APIs and data versus how del.icio.us does.
Knowledge work functions best with sharing inside the particular group or organization building a particular knowledge edifice — but outside that organization the economic value is based on keeping information goods controlled and available only to those who have the key (i.e., pay the license fee). This is the secretiveness of knowledge work.
“if one truly exists”: these categories of knowledge work vs. connected work are a way of understanding the world better, not objective reality. Language and theories help us understand what we experience but shouldn’t be mistaken for some sort of Platonic statement about the world.
Further your identifying of Scoble as a “connected” exemplar and another commenter’s great point about the addition perceived weight of corporate monoliths - how much of Scoble’s connectedness stems from his original base in Microsoft? I think there’s space for a distinction between types of categories of information consumption/distribution “style” and the distinct locations they emanate from.
Hi, I have stumbled upon this “connected mode” notion just today. One comment to your little dichotomies in the article:
“firewall vs. flow”:
if you are working alone, flow is an essential prerequisite for being productive, so I would not put it as an opposite to “firewalled” work - this applies only, of course, if you meant the “flow” concept from Csikszentmihalyi and not “to flow” in general. Best regards
Hi Erik - thanks for the comment — you’re right, it’s a little confusing to use the term flow. I’m not meaning it in the same sense as Csikszentmihalyi but rather following Stowe Boyd’s usage. I think maybe for clarity’s sake I need to come up with something else.
thanks for the quick reply - ah, ok, I see, I’ve checked on his website - I would see it as free flowing information between all participants vs. blocked (alias firewalled) information flow - as I understand, Stowe Boyd means information which gets to you instead of you having to look for it