Plug the word “context” into the Google News search box today and you’ll get 30,491 results.  That’s up from the last report, driven by events like the Senate hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Microsoft’s launch of Office 2010 and the Major League Baseball All-Star game.

Truly interesting was this bit of advice from an employment blog from Canada’s National Post:

“When networking and interviewing, use any personal information you find about others carefully. If you choose to use personal informaiton about someone, make sure the context is appropriate.  Remember that old saying: Its not how much you know, but what you do with the information that counts.”

The same advice holds for companies, institutions and officials who seek to advocate for a product, plan or point-of-view.

Share

Sometimes there is more than the devil in the details. Sometimes there is insight. Take, for example, this bit from Wikipedia’s guidance for members who want to create new pages for the online, collaborative compendium.

4. Gather references both to use as source(s) of your information and also to demonstrate notability of your article’s subject matter. References to blogs, personal websites and MySpace don’t count—we need reliable sources.

As traditional media fall (see: Portfolio magazine), a point is often made that bloggers have already moved to fill the gap created by contraction. People raised on newspaper reports, magazine analysis and the complementary sound and pictures of radio and television who voice concern are often counseled to “go to the web.” Their concern is based on a lack of confidence in the validity of what will be found online.

Of course, it is one thing for the new or unfamiliar to question the blogsphere. That doesn’t offer much counterweight to the rush to post. But when the Web savvy question the web savvy of blogs, you have to pay attention.

The closing of newspapers and magazines is not the real loss. We can argue about who is to blame. But the real loss is in the reduction in mediated content. Perhaps Wikipedia is a partial answer, but as “reliable sources” dwindle, their task — and ours — will only get tougher.

Share