Too Many Bags Out There
Sunday, March 15. 2009
I suppose I'm not giving anything away by stating that a pivotal character in the novel I'm writing is a bagpiper, since the "soundtrack" includes at least one air on the Highland pipes. I've long been enchanted by the unique sound of this instrument, and its ability to convey such a wide variety of emotions with a relatively limited musical palate (a lack of dynamic range, few actual notes, and a forced legato sound). Two of my all-time favorite musical experiences have been listening to Off Kilter at the Canada pavilion at Epcot, and standing eyes closed in the midst of a band of 16 pipers at a local Burns night. Couple that with my appreciation for fine Scotch and my ability to "stomach" haggis, and it seems I should have been a Scotsman.
For the record, Scotch whisky figures in Bring Me to Life in a minor role, but there is currently no appearance by a haggis.
Anyway, given my admiration for the bagpipes, it struck me recently that it would be fun to try learning to play them. I knew real pipes are quite expensive ($1000+ for a decent set), but one must spend some time (perhaps up to a year) learning on a relatively cheap practice chanter before ever picking up the real weapon. Off to eBay, then. And into a mire of confusion.
Following link after link after link from sellers, buyers, "disinterested" third parties, "unaffiliated" websites, fora, wikis...has that year of initial instruction passed yet? There is too much information available on the web regarding this topic, and as someone seeking expert advice on how to spend my hard-earned money, I'm overwhelmed.
I've complained about this phenomenon before—the Internet contains too much noise in relation to the actual signal (useful information) that's out there. And how can I determine what is actually worthwhile to read? Well, generally only by spending time reading it. Even then, how can I know whether what I've read is accurate? A decade ago, none of this information would have been out there, and I would have had to go buy a book to get some insights, or find an expert to talk to. Those would take money or more effort than click-click-clicking with the mouse, though, so here I sit, paralyzed by information glut.
The Internet needs an information referee. A co-worker and I have some ideas about how that could work, but we'd need to be Google to implement those ideas. Well, for now, it seems I should resist the temptation to try to learn about a new topic in any depth from my anonymous friends on the Internet, and go about research in the classical sense.
And at root, that's the solution: knowing that the Internet, though it may be the quickest solution, is often not the best solution. My generation has the ability to arrive at that conclusion. But will the next or the next?
I suppose I'm not giving anything away by stating that a pivotal character in the novel I'm writing is a bagpiper, since the "soundtrack" includes at least one air on the Highland pipes. I've long been enchanted by the unique sound of this instrument, and its ability to convey such a wide variety of emotions with a relatively limited musical palate (a lack of dynamic range, few actual notes, and a forced legato sound). Two of my all-time favorite musical experiences have been listening to Off Kilter at the Canada pavilion at Epcot, and standing eyes closed in the midst of a band of 16 pipers at a local Burns night. Couple that with my appreciation for fine Scotch and my ability to "stomach" haggis, and it seems I should have been a Scotsman.
For the record, Scotch whisky figures in Bring Me to Life in a minor role, but there is currently no appearance by a haggis.
Anyway, given my admiration for the bagpipes, it struck me recently that it would be fun to try learning to play them. I knew real pipes are quite expensive ($1000+ for a decent set), but one must spend some time (perhaps up to a year) learning on a relatively cheap practice chanter before ever picking up the real weapon. Off to eBay, then. And into a mire of confusion.
Following link after link after link from sellers, buyers, "disinterested" third parties, "unaffiliated" websites, fora, wikis...has that year of initial instruction passed yet? There is too much information available on the web regarding this topic, and as someone seeking expert advice on how to spend my hard-earned money, I'm overwhelmed.
I've complained about this phenomenon before—the Internet contains too much noise in relation to the actual signal (useful information) that's out there. And how can I determine what is actually worthwhile to read? Well, generally only by spending time reading it. Even then, how can I know whether what I've read is accurate? A decade ago, none of this information would have been out there, and I would have had to go buy a book to get some insights, or find an expert to talk to. Those would take money or more effort than click-click-clicking with the mouse, though, so here I sit, paralyzed by information glut.
The Internet needs an information referee. A co-worker and I have some ideas about how that could work, but we'd need to be Google to implement those ideas. Well, for now, it seems I should resist the temptation to try to learn about a new topic in any depth from my anonymous friends on the Internet, and go about research in the classical sense.
And at root, that's the solution: knowing that the Internet, though it may be the quickest solution, is often not the best solution. My generation has the ability to arrive at that conclusion. But will the next or the next?
For the record, Scotch whisky figures in Bring Me to Life in a minor role, but there is currently no appearance by a haggis.
Anyway, given my admiration for the bagpipes, it struck me recently that it would be fun to try learning to play them. I knew real pipes are quite expensive ($1000+ for a decent set), but one must spend some time (perhaps up to a year) learning on a relatively cheap practice chanter before ever picking up the real weapon. Off to eBay, then. And into a mire of confusion.
Following link after link after link from sellers, buyers, "disinterested" third parties, "unaffiliated" websites, fora, wikis...has that year of initial instruction passed yet? There is too much information available on the web regarding this topic, and as someone seeking expert advice on how to spend my hard-earned money, I'm overwhelmed.
I've complained about this phenomenon before—the Internet contains too much noise in relation to the actual signal (useful information) that's out there. And how can I determine what is actually worthwhile to read? Well, generally only by spending time reading it. Even then, how can I know whether what I've read is accurate? A decade ago, none of this information would have been out there, and I would have had to go buy a book to get some insights, or find an expert to talk to. Those would take money or more effort than click-click-clicking with the mouse, though, so here I sit, paralyzed by information glut.
The Internet needs an information referee. A co-worker and I have some ideas about how that could work, but we'd need to be Google to implement those ideas. Well, for now, it seems I should resist the temptation to try to learn about a new topic in any depth from my anonymous friends on the Internet, and go about research in the classical sense.
And at root, that's the solution: knowing that the Internet, though it may be the quickest solution, is often not the best solution. My generation has the ability to arrive at that conclusion. But will the next or the next?
Jimmy Anderson on :
If I may, let me blather about it from a 21st Century educator's standpoint... We are currently teaching students to be very productive members of the early 1900's. We are teaching them in such a way that the teacher "owns" the information and the student memorizes it. Who was the 32nd President? They jump into their memory and pull it out just like they do "what is 8 times 7." Perhaps they memorize the presidents in order, like the multiplication tables are learned in sets. Either way, they "learn" the information.
Now - here's how I, and other educational professionals, see that is should be... In case you didn't already, you can easily Google 32nd president and you'll get the answer immediately. That's a good example, as it shows that we don't need the information to be in our heads if we have access to it somewhere else. What do we do about more in depth information? We teach the students to go further than Google... We teach them to be able to find the information, compare it with other information out there, determine where it comes from, etc. We also teach them critical thinking skills, which are much more important than memorizing "facts."
Okay - now that I'm past that diatribe... I must say that I ENJOY having all this information at my fingertips... The fact that you can sit at your laptop or phone and access this content is amazing! I disagree that the actual signal is as narrow a band as you imply. I do feel that a lot of content is duplicated so it takes longer to dissect it down to good info, but I'd MUCH rather have too much and have to filter it myself than not have all the info I need.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Brent on :
Sorry Snake, I still think the signal-to-noise ratio of the Internet is horribly low for most topics. And the problem with researching anything on the Internet is that almost everything is unverified. That's why there needs to be some sort of endorsement authority, a kind of Verisign for information itself.
Wikipedia's a start, but you can't even trust it 100%.
Jimmy Anderson on :
I tend to think that the Internet as a whole is enough of a Verisign. I don't think we need a panel of people deciding what is "truth."
Brent on :
Also, it's not about deciding "what is truth," it's about determining what's a waste of time and what's actually useful.
Our scheme still wouldn't be perfect (as Wikipedia is not), but it would be better and -- most importantly to me -- more *efficient*.
CJ on :
Particularly when it comes to buying musical instruments. Took a chance on buying one of my concertinas online a couple of years ago ... turned out to be a bad idea.
Jimmy Anderson on :
http://web.me.com/jimmylogan/HomeAgain/Life/Entries/2009/3/23_Information_Overload.html