How does knowledge come to us?
Yesterday I gave a lecture about Social Media at ALMI for Textil Gotland – a group of women that works with textile craft and design. Everyone except two use Facebook, a lot of them have homepages but they were just a handful that had blogs and even less that used Linkedin or Twitter. The knowledge about Social Media varied a lot and that was about what I expected.
ALMI booked this lecture the day before which means I didn’t get so much time for preparations, but I had a Keynote that I could use after some adjustments. Everything develops so quickly! The last time I gave a lecture about Social Media there were 750 millions of Facebook users, yesterday it was 800 millions. Just a small fact like that… Anyway, there is a lot that needs to be told in order to give an overall picture of Social Media and how small companies can make use of it. There is always a lot more I would like to say when I notice the group’s interest and their lack of knowledge. I wish there was more time to give better answers to certain questions.
When I talk about Social Media and marketing it means that a lot of the talk is about Facebook. Because most of the women in the group used Facebook I could tell that most of them understood what I was talking about. But, then there are those who still not have taken the step to join Facebook. It is in their questions that I understand the difference in ”knowing about the digital world and Social Media” and not to.
A Swedish poet, Alf Henriksson, wrote a thoughtful poem in the book Teckningar & Vers (Drawings and Poems). I hope my translation will make sense:
The lapse of memory
There is so much you have forgotten when someone asks
and so much you know when no one asks
and so little you forgot that you know
and so much you know that you have forgotten.
My experience is sometimes ”so much I have forgotten that I know”…
What is knowledge? How does knowledge come to us? It’s easy to ”see” how the knowledge came to me during the years I studied at the university, but most of what I learned through life is a result of me being curious and never stopping to find out and learn more. The knowledge about the digital world has zestfully sneaked into my life since april 1989 when the first Macintosh computer arrived to our home. A couple of years later my acquaintance with internet started. Four years ago I got to know my first iPhone. For a little more than a year ago I took my first step into the world of iPad.
When I meet persons who still haven’t become a good friend with their computer, some communications problems may arise. Especially when there is not enough time to explain things better.
I consider myself to be a person that has good knowledge about the digital world, but one area that I have avoided is games. When I listen to or talk to any of the competent, young game developers on Gotland I am the one who’s lost. I don’t get what they are talking about. I don’t understand their words. No bells are ringing when they are name-dropping. I have to ask them again, they have to be patient…
I know that if I should listen to any of these textile women when they talk about their subjects of expertise, then I would also be lost.
There is “so much we have forgotten that we know”. All the things we have learned during the years have creeped in to our brain and body. We have breathed in knowledge, it has slowly seeped through our skin, the words have tripped in through our ears and the pictures have twinkled themselves into our eyes. Everything in an eternal stream. A natural flow. We forget about all the things we have learned because it goes on all the time every day.
But then you stand there, in front of a person who doesn’t have that knowledge that you have and in that moment you realize that it actually is a lot that you have learned during the years.
This video is a good reminder of how absurd Social Media can be…
