Did you notice something about the above list? All of the media mentioned were designed for me to consume. The only participatory action I make is to buy them, turn them on, tune them in, open them. (I can discuss all of the above with my friends and colleagues, but that’s a different relationship…) The internet is uniquely designed to change that relationship.

Most of the time, I need a compelling reason to produce a document, report, or even an email (and even then)… With the internet and Web 2.0 technologies, I can now use my special skills to participate more:

As a cultivator of content…

As an editor of content…

As a dealer of content…

As a presenter of content…

Even in the internet age, we have to package content for consumption, but now we have the ability to collaboratively decide how that information is presented. As such, we will need to constantly challenge ourselves to learn what works best for which kinds of information and what makes a compelling case for each consumer of information to cross the chasm to become a participant in the knowledge exchenge.

Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li at Forrester have a good lead on the social web, and their book Groundswell (http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/index.html) will be a great read to follow on this thread.

They may have left out a few compelling reasons to why we participate in the social web, like the fact that we are physiologically wired to change behavior when we percieve our reputations are on the line (http://www.sciencefriday.com/newsbriefs/read/171), but I’m sure we’ll be able to update that in an online version of their book – if it were ever to appear in wiki format!

Looking forward to more discussion around the participatory web.

I think you are right. It’s time to reconsider the way we think about and present information. I’m certain this is happening in various industries, whether many of our readers see the possibilities yet. And, dynamic content is a primary component of this new approach.

I can’t wait until more software tools support these approaches.

Thanks for your comment.

May be we need to bring the “user” aspect

into our information products. By this I mean

more interactivity, dynamism. Let user create

their own information product from a pool of information

objects.

It is a time to reconsider

the way we and think and represent information.

I liked the idea of embedding social networking features into OLH,

knowledge base, etc. In that way an information product

can act as an “interface” for help systems and a discussion

area of a product feature……