Wednesday, August 20, 2008

If no-one has the answer ...

... where are the good sources of information?

Well, the problem with information sources in any emerging field is usually one of independence. Whilst many sites may talk about the subject, there is always the danger that you are being led to a specific conclusion: buy our product, research report or consultancy services.

As with most things in life, you should always take advice with a good pinch of salt unless there are compelling reasons to believe in the independence of the source or you have some personal trust relationship with the source.

Whilst there are many experts in the field, these are the people that I most strongly trust the opinions of:-

Enterprise 2.0: Euan Semple, Jenny Ambrozek, Andrew McAfee and Dion Hinchcliffe.

Cloud Computing: James Urquhart, Jesse Robbins, Artur Bergman and Rich Miller.

Social Media & Networks: Suw Charman-Anderson, Tara Hunt and Gavin Bell.

Future Technology: Tim O'Reilly, Matt Webb, James Duncan and Cory Doctorow.

This, of course, is simply my view. It's neither right nor wrong but instead a reflection of those things that matter to me.

Your view is probably completely different but then that's the beauty of freedom, participation and expression in the Internet age. No-one has the answers to an uncertain future and you have to decide where the good sources of information are. Don't let others make those decisions for you.

That said, there are some good people out there trying to bring you independent resources for information on particular subjects. Two of my favourites include the E2.0 portal by Simon Oxley and Nick Barker and Enterprise 2.0 Open by Bjoern Negelmann et al.