Information is power.

Thus less surprising are the buzz of information and the communication of it. My project here at Stanford is about information and how we can transfer that information from in-the-field to an information database. Initially the project is focused on an open-source news application to be used in emerging democracies. Very few people are reflecting on what this information is and for what purpose it exists? The question “Do we really need all this information?” emerges…

One of the main sources of information today is blogs. The creation of blogs has revolutioned the possibility for the individual to produce information and participate in debates. The question remains: If we are all producing information, who will read it? Who will have the time to read it?

Today there is a need to be constantly up to date of all the discussions. Of course not all information you find out on the web is relevant and you have to find a way to filter through this information noise. Yes, I label it as noise. Why? Look at this analogy. You are in a room with 50 other people. Usually you are only involved in one conversation and not all the conversations at the same time. Today the situation on the web is really like following all the conversations simultaneously, which clearly is a bit schizophrenic.

As more information is produced you will have to filter through it. Today the only available functional filter is really for you to choose which blogs (or feeds) you want to read. Nicholas Carr recently touched this area discussing how many RSS-feeds you can really read per day. He said in his blog The Mainstream Blogosphere: “Some people max out at 5 feeds, some at 50. I’ve even read some people claim they’re topping out at a truly nauseating 200. I currently have 27 feeds, and that’s way too many. I’ve gone from adding to pruning. Most of us will ultimately cut back to a handful of blogs that we read regularly, supplementing them with the odd post from here or there. That’s only natural.”

I totally agree with him.

I have drastically cut down on my selection of blogs and is down below 10 feeds that I check each day. I therefore challenge the thought of everyone having their own blog. The idea of everyone having their voice in the debate is something that is very important, especially in emerging democracies. Group blogs are thus far much more interesting than everyone having their own little space in the cyber, as they also strengthen the community aspect of the blogs.

Blogs are great, but not everyone should have their own.