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LAST CHANCE TO SAVE 20 PERCENT - Public sector websites: Citizen
focus for success a Gerry McGovern masterclass in conjunction
with Headstar Training. London, Sept 23, 2008.
Book here: http://www.headstar-training.com/citizen/

FREE WEBINAR TASK MEASUREMENT: Learn about the unique Task
Performance Indicator which identifies how well your top website
tasks are performing. Hear Gerry McGovern and Rolf Molich
(world-renowned usability expert and author). When: Wednesday
Sept 10 @ 10:00AM US Eastern Time (EDT), 15:00 (London), and
16:00 Central European Time.
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/741360854

INTRANET MASTERCLASS - LONDON - OCTOBER 2 - EARLY BIRD EXTENDED
UNTIL SEP 12 - BOOK NOW:
http://valuedrivenintranets.eventbrite.com/

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INFORMATION IS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING

An information tsunami is sweeping the world, eating up vast
quantities of time and energy.

"The information avalanche coming from all sides -- the
Internet, PDAs, hundreds of television channels -- is burying us
in extraneous data that prevent important facts and knowledge
from reaching a broad audience," writes Dusty Horwitt in The
Washington Post in August 2008.

"Lawyers are familiar with this phenomenon," Horwitt continues.
"In fact, they use it to their advantage: They know that if you
want to hide damaging information about a case, there's nothing
like a document dump to do the trick. You make the facts freely
available -- along with so much irrelevant data that no one will
ever find them."

Tim Sanders' new book, Saving The World At Work explores the
concept of "socially responsible web programming." He suggests
that, for example, if Google used a different color scheme (less
white and more gray), there is evidence a massive amount of
energy would be saved.

Computers certainly consume lots of energy and throw off lots of
heat. Arizona State University engineering professor Eric
Williams states that a desktop computer "is probably the most
energy-intensive of home devices, aside from furnaces and
boilers."

There may be lessons to learn from how we deal with traditional
energy issues. "From University of California, Santa Cruz, to
Virginia Tech, cafeteria trays are disappearing, as a way for
universities and food service companies to reduce food waste,
lower energy costs and help make college campuses more
environmentally sustainable," states an August 2008 article in
Time magazine.

"The reasoning goes like this," the article continues. "When
students are allowed to use trays, they tend to roam around the
cafeteria grabbing food with abandon, until space on the tray
runs out. If you revoke their trays, making it impossible for
students to carry a surplus of dishes, they will make their
selections more carefully and be satisfied with less food
overall."

Colleges that have become tray-less estimate that students are
now wasting up to 30 percent less food, and that thousands of
gallons of water per day are being saved.

So how might we take away the tray in the information world?
Horwitt suggests that "perhaps the best way to limit the
avalanche is to make the technologies that overproduce
information more expensive and less widespread." That sounds
draconian and unworkable but some sort of limit needs to be
established.

I remember talking to an intranet manager who said she thought
of her intranet as a night club and her as the security guard.
"Sorry, the intranet is full" she would tell people. "Take stuff
off before you put stuff on."

A world without limits is a world of chaos. A website without
limits is a dump. We need to start calculating the total cost of
information. How much to create? How much to publish? How much
to find? How much to consume? How much if it's wrong? How much
to maintain?

One more cost: How much does it cost when a piece of information
makes it harder to find a more valuable piece of information?

If Everyone's Talking, Who Will Listen?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082202396.html

The War on College Cafeteria Trays
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1834403,00.html

Saving The World At Work
http://www.amazon.com/Saving-World-Work-Individuals-Difference/dp/0385523572

Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE 20 PERCENT - Public sector websites: Citizen
focus for success a Gerry McGovern masterclass in conjunction
with Headstar Training. London, Sept 23, 2008.
Book here: http://www.headstar-training.com/citizen/

FREE WEBINAR TASK MEASUREMENT: Learn about the unique Task
Performance Indicator which identifies how well your top website
tasks are performing. Hear Gerry McGovern and Rolf Molich
(world-renowned usability expert and author). When: Wednesday
Sept 10 @ 10:00AM US Eastern Time (EDT), 15:00 (London), and
16:00 Central European Time.
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/741360854

INTRANET MASTERCLASS - LONDON - OCTOBER 2 - EARLY BIRD EXTENDED
UNTIL SEP 12 - BOOK NOW:
http://valuedrivenintranets.eventbrite.com/

*****************************************************************
Comment on this post at our Giraffe Forum Blog
http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/2008/08/24/too-close-to-your-website-too-far-from-your-customers/#respond

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PIONEER, BBC, TETRA PAK, IKEA AND ROLLS-ROYCE USE CUSTOMER
CAREWORDS. SEE WHAT IT CAN DO FOR YOU
http://www.customercarewords.com/
*****************************************************************

RELATED LINKS

Simplicity
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/simplicity.htm

New Thinking Subject Classification
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/index.htm

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NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING
By Gerry McGovern - http://www.gerrymcgovern.com
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September 01, 2008 - Volume 13 Number 33
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You may quote freely from this issue once you give proper
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appreciated.)

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Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com

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mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

WEBSITE LINK FOR THIS ISSUE:
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Published by Gerry McGovern (mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com)
Copyright (C) 2008 Gerry McGovern. All rights reserved.




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