James Drogan

Re: Conversations with Dave 

You often point your interlocutors to Wikipedia. While you never, insofar as I can recall, specifically cite it as an authority, your use of it in context would strongly imply you think it an authority. And what is Wikipedia but the product of links?

You may recall the discussion of a few weeks ago in MSM and the blogs of Wikipedia versus Britannica. The conclusion, I believe, was that one was about as accurate as the other.

Now I, for the same reason as you, have some issue with links as an indicator of anything beyond interest. However, if these links are by those whom I respect as authorities, then it becomes a different matter. I almost always will check out links you send me inasmuch as I respect you as an authority in a number of areas.

So, how do we find the authorities and how do we find what links they're using? By the way, what makes them authorities? Are they cited more than others? Does their view agree with ours?

This,of course, takes us back to previous discussions we have had regarding information management which, at its heart, is about discernment. I instruct my students in the following principles:

1. What decisions must be made and why?
2. How will the decisions be made and why?
3. Where will the data come from and how will it be obtained?

The powers of discernment, often painfully developed, inform each of these questions.

As to "that said - having test Technorati it couldn't find much on key topics and what it had on economics was literally pathetic - didn't find Ritholz or any of the worthwhile Top10/20." perhaps the economic authorities do not blog much. Perhaps other links between economic authorities exist.

It seems to me that blogs address "what would be really valuable is to have shared (think open-source agendii and standards of exchange around which communities could coalesce) - a model might be Amzn or Torvalds (this was the model I proposed to the New America foundation to serve as the trusted broker for triggering the collaborative emergence of a shared, constructive vision of shared policies and leverage widespread expertise and commentary..." Which brings me to other instruction I give my students regarding communication:

1. The grammar and syntax of the messages being exchanged is understood.
2. The information communicated in the messages is relevant.
3. The medium of communication is acceptable.
4. There is a desire to communicate.

As you and I discussed on Friday in the context of geopolitics, it is often the fourth point that is missing.