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Entries Tagged as 'Information'

Organizing the Material

January 27th, 2022 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Almost anyone can gather the material. Organizing it or creating a story from it, however, appears to be a rare yet valuable skill. We have lots of information. Go to Wikipedia. Download PDFs of the pages. Concatenate the pages. There it is. Go to a search engine. Find a dozen hits. Copy […]

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Tags: Clarity · Communication · Context · Design · Information · Purpose · Reframe · Stories · Teaching · Thinking · Wikipedia

What is Different in this Situation?

November 15th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips This is a variation on the question, “What is the difference that makes a difference?” When trying to modify behavior, we must be able to answer the title’s question. The title of this post is a fundamental science question. You are telling me that factor A is important here. Okay, it seems […]

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Tags: Adapting · Change · Data Science · Decide · Information · Science

The Dark Ages at a Personal Level

October 21st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips There are tools that help me remember the things I need to remember. They prevent a fall into the Dark Ages. Define Dark Ages: it isn’t that we forget how to do something, it is that we forget than we once could do that. Personal Dark Ages: it isn’t that I can’t […]

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Tags: Competence · Information · Journal · Process · Remember · Tools

The Backwards Information Thermocline

June 24th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Information at the bottom of an organization usually doesn’t move up to the top. In the past, I have written about the information thermocline and the authority thermocline. Organizations have levels. Even “flat” organizations—regardless of claims to the contrary—have levels. Information and authority don’t flow down into the lower levels. About half […]

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Tags: Communication · Failure · Information

Data, Information, Money—a Simple Example

June 7th, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Data is money. Information is money. Here is a precise, concrete, and specific example. Data is money. Information is money. Yeah, we hear that all the time. Really? What are you trying to sell me? A few years ago (dates and names withheld to protect the guilty) I worked in a job […]

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Tags: Data Science · Information · Management · Money

Pulling Information

May 31st, 2021 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Pulling information involves asking questions. It means you receive information other than what the holder of information volunteers. Ask with care. Pulling information makes an information meeting much longer than the presenter planned. The audience asks questions to learn information that wasn’t presented. But what about this? Why say what you said? […]

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Tags: Information · Questions

Fiction and Disinformation

December 14th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Fiction, when repeated enough, becomes fact in the minds of many. So why aren’t we trying to stomp out fiction that is far from reality? I have seen many movies on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. 99% of murders in real life are not like that, nothing like that. 99% of murders in […]

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Tags: Expectations · Fable · Fairy Tales · Information · Stories · Writing

Hiding Information and Ignorance

June 15th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips “I don’t know” and “I don’t want to say” are close cousins. They also carry much information if we are willing to listen. “I don’t know.” “I can’t say.” “I don’t want to say anything now as I may be divulging too much or incorrect information.” Would you please tell me something? […]

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Tags: Information · Questions · Uncategorized · Visibility · Work

Fake News is News. Are We Listening?

March 5th, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips Consider some rules of the English language. Afterwards, let’s start listening to what is said. Allow me to digress a few moments into English language and usage. Fake news is news. Notice the noun “news” is there in the phrase “fake news.” The word “fake” is merely an adjective attached to the […]

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Tags: Adults · Fairy Tales · Fun · Information · Listening · Meta

Misinformation, Disinformation, Entertainment, and Questions

March 2nd, 2020 · No Comments

by Dwayne Phillips We seem to have confused ourselves once again. Perhaps simply asking a few questions would quell all the hyperventilating. Is it misinformation or disinformation? I confuse the two. Is either a real word or something a word inventor invented last week because he couldn’t find his dictionary and an appropriate word among […]

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Tags: Adults · Information · Questions · Thinking