Birdsong Information Services

April, 2009

Well just about everything if you want to find quality information for your search. First, here is a graphical depiction of the Information Spectrum. You start with data and then move upward on the information spectrum with your search. The more steps you take up the information spectrum in your search the more value you add to your search.



            4. Action on Knowledge
        3. Knowledge
    2. Information
1. Data

Value Increases ------------------------------------»


Let’s go back to September of 2008 for an example of the information spectrum in use and to get you thinking about this approach to search.

The Search Question
You just received an email listing all the books (a long list) Sarah Palin banned, no debate about it in the email, just the list saying she banned the books. Being a person who does their own thinking you did not rely upon this email and wanted to find out if Sarah Palin did ban all the books in the email.

1.    Data Points- This is where you gather a seemingly disparate amount of data. With our example, the first data point is the email you received. Another data point might be a conversation with another person who firmly stated she banned books and any radio, TV or podcast with varying opinions, will add to your data points. You go online and find sources such as snopes.com, truthorfiction.com, blogs, and other websites discussing the list. Some of the discussions you read about are more about the conversation Sarah Palin had with the Librarian versus the purported banned book list.

2.    Information-You take all the data you have gathered and start to piece it together. You see some reliable sources such as snopes.com, libraryjournal.com and other sources that don’t support the email. The more you read the more you start to question the email’s validity. Along the way you see some side conversations that may add to your knowledge regarding Sarah Palin’s stance on books in public libraries. You have taken the data and transformed it into information by seeing patterns and validating its authenticity.

3.    Knowledge- Armed with information you use this to help you determine how you will vote in November. You start to use the information spectrum to gain additional information that is pertinent to your voting decision. After a period of time you have the knowledge you need to vote.

4.    Action on Knowledge- You move into action with placing an informed vote that you are pleased with.

Additionally, once you learned that the email you received would reflect poorly on you if you forwarded it, you moved through knowledge, and went into action on knowledge, by either not forwarding the email or not forwarding and giving a link to an authoritative source to the sender of the email.       

On your way to a quality search, you can see how the information spectrum helps you think about gathering several data points, looking for patterns and quality information out of the data, linking it into other knowledge already known or gathered and then springing into action.

Dang, sometimes I just want to go to a movie without all this information spectrum stuff. Not too worry. We do some of this thinking unconsciously. Just be sure on topics that are unfamiliar and important that we all do our own thinking with the information spectrum in mind. 

If you have a desire to receive more information on new developments from a variety of sources you can look at my blog  BirdsongInfo Blog and bookmark or take it as an RSS feed. As my blog tagline states I am “Hoping to Nudge Good Thoughts and Information into the Worldly eCloud.” Should you need assistance with research, online or internet training or managing your information overload please contact me.

Should you need assistance with information
or research please contact me at

or 303-884-8666