The Global Information Ecosystem We live in a vast sea of information

The Global Information Ecosystem is a metaphor for the vast sea of interrelated, mainly digital information, in which we live. 

As we move deeper into #World 2 and the digital age, everything goes digital, and we find ourselves living and working in a vast web of digital information. As of January 2020, over 6 billion pages were on the indexed World Wide Web, which increases by the day.

This web of information is highly hyper-linked to form a vast dynamic network. It is a complex system that contains an enormous variety of information that some call knowledge.

Most of this information is static, but much changes by the second, even millisecond, such as the financial data on the Forex foreign exchange market.

It is a global information commons to which over 4 billion people have read/write access.

Not only is it a dynamic storage space, but we can also connect and communicate via text, voice, or video with various other people. People, too, can be seen as repositories of information.

Last but not least, we must not forget the libraries of the world that still contain a massive amount of information that has yet and may never be digitized.

It is helpful to give this system a name. We can call it the web or label it the global information ecosystem (info-ecosystem) – an emerging metaphor that not everyone agrees with but is a valuable way to conceptualize.

It is imperative that we do not pollute the global information system. It’s a precious resource.

The Global Information Ecosystem likens the enormous, linked digital world of data and information to an ecological system.

This metaphor highlights that our shared digital commons is a valuable asset requiring protection from harm, just as natural environments do.

Credit: David Gurteen

The War on Sensemaking | Daniel Schmachtenberger (Rebel Wisdom)

Credit: This post draws on the work of Daniel Schmachtenberger and, in particular, the videos embedded in The War on Sensemaking.

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• As we move deeper into the digital age, we find ourselves living in a vast web of digital information — The Global Information Ecosystem — an emerging metaphor for the sea of interrelated information in which we live. #KM #KMers

Detailed Resources

• The Guardian: The collapse of the information ecosystem poses profound risks for humanity by Lydia Polgreen (2019)

Posts that link to this post

•  Introduction: Knowledge Delusion We delude ourselves about what we know and how we make decisions
•  The Four Levels of Knowledge Management The relation between Conversational Leadership and Knowledge Management
•  Pollution of the Global Information Ecosystem The contamination of information with false and misleading material
•  In Search of the Third Attractor Daniel Schmachtenberger

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