Computers

Ben's Technology Blog

Technology Magazines * Microsoft Exchange * Computer Books *  Election Technology * Random Thoughts * Microsoft Outlook * Microsoft OneNote FAQ

Eventually this page will have a collection of FAQs, articles and white papers.  The OneNote FAQ is already extremely popular.

Technology Magazines

There are certain magazines and resources that I consider invaluable in my daily work.  Those include:

InfoWorld Magazine - a great resource, I read it every week.

Information Week Magazine - another useful weekly, this one focuses a bit more on large corporations and back office applications as opposed to the down and dirty technology.

Knowledge Management

This is one of the hottest topics of the present day: the concept of "Knowledge Management".  Personally, I'm not convinced that knowledge can be managed, per se.  INFORMATION can be managed, sure.  DATA can be managed.  But knowledge I'm not so sure about.

What's the difference, you ask?  

• Data is raw facts: ex: "72 degrees."

• Information is facts in a useful context. ex: "It is currently 72 degrees in Honolulu, Hawaii."

• Knowledge passes that information through experience and interpretation to analyze and use that information in a practical way.  ex: "It is 72 degrees in Honolulu, Hawaii because of it's location relative to the equator, persistent south-westerly trade winds and etc., etc., etc.,"

The difficulty in managing knowledge is that it is difficult to capture and communicate all of the subtle nuances involved in the experience and interpretation phase.  Two people can look at the same information and get different knowledge from it because of their varying experience and interpretation.  They might even both be correct!

Have you ever looked at something and known something about it, but not been able to really put your finger on WHY you know that?  "It's just a feeling" or "a hunch"?  Well, it's the skills and experiences that make up the filters that turn the information (whatever you see/hear/feel/taste/smell about that thing) into what you know about it and you can't always specifically tell or explain what those skills or experiences are.  

Random Thoughts

One of the most interesting technology sites on the web is SlashDot.org, a gathering place for geeks, nerds and smart people of all persuasions to discuss technology and science in a decidedly GenX manner.  "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters" is the tagline there and it's a worthwhile bookmark for anybody in the technology business or interested in science and technology.  A bit heavy on the Internet/Linux content, perhaps, but almost every day there is a discussion of interest to everybody.  Go check it out and earn some karma.

More to come...soon...

Last Update:  Wednesday August 08, 2007                                                                                                         Contact Ben