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About InformationTamersSomething that occupies our thinking a lot is taming all the information that hits our PCs and desks every day. Maybe you find this a problem as well, and that's why you arrived at this website. Information comes at us from all directions: Documents from colleagues, websites, web articles, social networking reference, emails, instant messages, passwords and other access tokens, magazine articles, news clippings, spreadsheets, presentations and diagrams. A lot of this we want to read later, amend, add to or keep for reference. If it is useful for our work, hobbies and family life, we need to keep it, and be able to find it. Who hasn't felt overwhelmed by the increasing gush pouring out of the information pipes to which most of us are connected? This site is about information organizers for your computer files, information management generally for individuals, small businesses and global enterprises.
Finding a better way to organize informationOur first article here is the story of one person's search for the ‘magic sauce’ in building an information organizer.
Presenting ideas and information - and making them countWhen you present information, how can you make sure it is absorbed, retained and acted on? The second piece here about taming information is a mindmap summary of a telling and profound book: “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath.
Better information systemsI walked into the room for a meeting ahead of time - and found a noisy and excited argument in progress. I was just an outside consultant, there to act as facilitator, so I focused on getting my laptop hooked up to the projector and working as quickly as possible. If what I could hear going on was any indication, my first job was to calm things down, or there wouldn't be much useful work done throughout the rest of the afternoon. We were there to discuss what the users were expecting from a new information system, and some I.T. people were about to present the results of feedback from the first round of user testing. That particular meeting calmed down, eventually, but we were off to a bad start and it could have been more productive in other circumstances. It was like the story of the old farmer who was asked for directions to a nearby village and replied “Well, if I wanted to get there, I wouldn't start from here.” Now, I have a different approach that brings out these problems at a much earlier stage and deals with them differently. It changes many other aspects of getting business information systems out that really deliver what's required - it's called VPEC-T and you can read about it, and see a detailed mind map by following the links here: VPEC-T the 5D lens and here: VPEC-T the mindmap
Get familiar with editing WikipediaWhat are the key things to know before you start editing Wikipedia? Refer to the Wikipedia Editing Essentials mindmap for a quick reference source for the principal policies and most-used editing information.
InformationTamers is still an embryo at present, it's gradually growing, and work is going on behind the scenes . . . more is on the way.
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