People directory: August 30, 1999 issue of New Thinking

August 30, 1999 New Thinking:
The people directory

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August 30, 1999

The people directory

By Gerry McGovern

In the Digital economy we are seeing an increasing power shift from the company and product to the worker and consumer. If we are indeed entering an information/knowledge society then it is a society where the right type of people are highly prized assets.

A digital age company will have a relatively low value for fixed assets, such as buildings and equipment, and a high value for human assets; their employees and customers.

From a personal point of view, we as individuals need to have accurate and constantly updated descriptions of who we are and what we do. It’s like taking our curriculum vitae and expanding it in a significant way.

A lot of the early success stories on the Internet were based on directory publishing. Yahoo was a directory of websites and Amazon was a directory of books. Directories are at the heart of the digital economy because of dreaded information overload.

Of course, a directory is only as good as its information. This information has to be accurate, updated, be the type that the user is looking for, and deliver that information to the user in the fastest, most efficient manner. Not simple.

What is technology? The word ‘technology’ derives from the Greek “technologia”, which refers to the, “systematic treatment of an art”. Webster defines ‘technology as, “the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area.

”The word ‘art’ has many definitions, but for this discussion I will use a Webster definition which defines ‘art’ as, “skill acquired by experience, study, or observation.”

In modern terms, technology is about examining what people and animals (horses, etc.) do, and finding machine processes that will do it better and more efficiently. Historically, technology has been all about automating people out of the process.

The theory and promise was that technology would allow people to do less work, particularly that which was repetitious, and would give them more time for leisure. As we are all well aware, the leisure society has not been delivered on, and it is justifiable to say that in many ways our technology has failed us in achieving one of its primary objectives.

Like some heavy drug, we have become addicted to technology. Like some Greek tragi-comedy, we automate more and more and work more and more. If we are to break this vicious circle, we need to focus more on the art and less on the systematic treatment of the art.

It is very difficult to systematically treat knowledge, because people are central to both the giving and receiving of knowledge. Webster defines knowledge as, “the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association.” This is a very human activity where technology and automation can play a supportive but not dominant role.

The Internet has this vast potential to allow us to access information so that we can know things and to offer information about our knowledge so that others can access it.

The successful companies and societies of today and tomorrow are those that create these great directories of people which become the corner stones of both social and economic activity.

Gerry McGovern

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The successful companies and societies of today and tomorrow are those that create these great directories of people which become the corner stones of both social and economic activity.