focus, attention, searching divides: where are you looking?

I wonder if, by analogy to the digital divide, we also have a whole set of other divides, related to focus, attention and searching.

That is, although someone may have the same level of access to technology (e.g. we are all working in the same office in front of the same computers), we may have very different approaches to using the technology.

Specifically, how much of your attention to you devote to exploring your digital environment, where do you focus your attention, and how to you locate (search) out things to focus attention upon?

I think there are three stereotypical styles:

* interactive attention: the characteristic Gen Y / Millenial style where their main focus is on SMS and Instant Messaging, with multiple chat windows open, as they do other things in the background.  In this case, your focus is your "messagestream".  If you want to share info, you message it.  If you want to find info, you just message a friend, you ask before search.

* web attention: a web-centric style where your main focus is web feeds: Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, RSS reader, delicious, etc.  Your main focus is your "webstream".  If you want to share info, you typically just make a note of it for yourself in one of your web tools, and assume others will find it (although there may be ways that you flag info in order to get into one of their webstreams).  If you want to find info, you first check your web streams, then you may do a Google search.

* email attention: your main focus is your Outlook email and/or your BlackBerry.  You live by your "emailstream".  The main way for information to get to you is by someone sending an email message or through a mailing list (listserv).  Since Outlook by default has terrible search capability, folders are the main way you locate things.  You may try to locate info by emailing someone who may know, or by posting to a mailing list.

Now these are obviously extremes but are to illustrate a point, which is there is very little overlap between these three styles.  Interactives get their information from peers in realtime.  Web attention people give and take information with their peer crowd as well as the entire world, asynchronously.   Emailers have slow asynchronous peer channels as their main information source.

This creates a lot of expectation gaps trying to cross silos.  If I'm web, I'm living in my browser.  You can send all the emails and mailing list posts you want, unless it shows up somewhere with a URL, it's not getting much of my attention.  Similarly, if I want to communicate something, I want to stick it in a web stream for you to consume, not have to duplicate the information in some closed unsearchable Exchange system where it will get filed in some folder and lost.

How does information circulate in your organisation?  Have you found ways to break communication silos?  Is your main focus your IM window, your web browser, or your email inbox?

Comments

[Mr. Gunn]

It's email where I am, and I once suggested to our journal club(all smart scientists) that that instead of emailing PDFs around, we could just throw it up on google docs. I got blank stares all around the room. Likewise when I suggested that instead of typing up the lab protocols in a Word document and giving out copies, we could put it on a wiki. I think many of these people are just now getting comfortable with email and word processor software, and are reluctant to drop all that for something new, even if it's not, really.

Even when I was at a start-up in San Diego and needed to collaboratively edit a spreadsheet with someone at another university, the burden of signing up for an account, light as it is, was too much.

Email it is, and email it will remain, until literally forced to change.

[Andrew Perry]

In a way, with web-based mail and chat, the browser (with tabs) helps aggregate these into a single point of focus ... but it would be nicer if they integrated further so that it didn't feel like there was as much "attention switching".

Like Mr. Gunn, I've got to shamefully admit that I've tried and failed to convert those who exclusively use email. And lets not even start on attempting to get anyone to edit the lab wiki. I'm expecting that they will come around without any prodding when there is a critical mass of their peers using IM and web based communication and sharing (which is a little bit of a circular argument).