Productivity vs Consumption in Web2.0 at Jonesieblog

Productivity vs Consumption in Web2.0

Published February 18th, 2007 in Web 2.0

In the bright new world of Web2.0, we are all both consumers and producers. I’ve been thinking today about how the two relate to each other. Time for a graph:

I’d like to spend all my time on-line in the “head down” and “I’m on fire!” zones - reading blogs, writing posts, posting comments, sending emails, coding cool applications, doing school preparation…

Unfortunately, I seem to spend much more time in the “Web1.0″ zone - mindlessly trawling around blogs, my feed reader, checking email, being vaguely inspired but not actually producing anything… and I guess I’m not alone in this.

How do we get the balance right? Without consuming the Web I wouldn’t be producing many of the interesting things that I’m involved with now, but there are times when I feel like I might have produced a whole lot more if I’d just left the computer switched off!

Do you feel like you’ve got the balance right?

Stumble it!

Tags: productivity, web2.0

Viewing 8 Comments

Neil Winton 1 year ago 1 point
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I love the graphic! And I know what you mean... I'm in the middle of S4 folios and Higher prlims... I've also got a 19 month old who doesn't like sleeping... and it's a long time until I can come up for air.

There is LOTS I'd like to be doing, most of it productive too, but Christmas to Easter is a real stinker, and I just know I'll be up to my neck and feeling vaguely dissatisfied for most of it...

Blogging is a phenomenal tool, but jotters don't mark themselves... yet... (Actually, my brother had the idea of sub-contracting our marking to an Indian <strike>call</strike>mark centre... sometimes I think it might not be such a bad idea!)

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John 1 year ago 1 point
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Hi Robert,
I feel as if i am in the same 'lurking' zone too much of the time. One link leads to another and you are lost in wikipedia;-)
Then I end up spending far to much of my 'heads down/on fire time' producing things that will never see the light of day or even get finished. Some of this has to do with the crossover between work and obsession/play, some to do with biting off more than I can chew.

I saw an idea somewhere (heh) that to increase efficiency you should turn your computer on and work without reading emails for the first hour, when I add rss/web pages to that at least I get a good start in the 'head down' sector.

Hopefully scotedublogs.org.uk will help to make the lurking/reading more efficient and less time consuming too.

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jonesieboy 1 year ago 1 point
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Neil - you're spot on about this time of year! Everyone seems to be looking stressed and weary at school. Still - only 6 weeks 'til Easter is it? I like the idea of sub-contracting marking! I wonder how much of a pay cut teachers would be willing to take to fund it? ;)

John - I feel your pain! I've spent endless hours looking into stuff that turned out to be a dead end (trying to get my head around Zope 3 was a particuarly bad one!). Not checking email/rss sounds like a great idea - my usual work flow is something like this:

<ul>
<li>Realise I have something to do on the computer</li>
<li>Turn on computer</li>
<li>Machine boots up into Linux and shows 20 unread emails and 5 software updates available</li>
<li>...</li>
<li>...</li>
<li>Remember that there was something I was supposed to be doing</li>
<li>Maybe get it done</li>
</ul>

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Neil Winton 1 year ago 1 point
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As a rule, I avoid doing LOL & co... but:
" * Realise I have something to do on the computer
* Turn on computer
* Machine boots up into Linux and shows 20 unread emails and 5 software updates available
* …
* …
* Remember that there was something I was supposed to be doing
* Maybe get it done"

FOTFLMAO...

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jonesieboy 1 year ago 1 point
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I think I need help!

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John 1 year ago 1 point
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Does this help: What does FOTFLMAO stand for? it did help me;-)

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jonesieboy 1 year ago 1 point
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Ah - no, it wasn't the acronym I needed help with :) - it was the inability to focus on a simple task on a computer. If you have a link to help with that I would be most grateful. It looks like I could also do with some help in expressing myself clearly!

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Neil Winton 1 year ago 1 point
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Never mind focusing on simple tasks... I can't even focus on the keyboard... it was supposed to be ROTFLMAO...

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