How to Reshape Your Information Inputs (Part Ⅰ)

It’s a precondition for making quality decisions

Overview

1. Books, books, books
2. Handing open channel information on the web
3. Routinized information input model
4. Capturing randomness
5. Establishing personal access

Content

COVID seems to have become the butterfly wings that stirred the world. Many Extremistan occurred in sequence. News and opinions from all sources flooded into view. In the deluge of information, it is important to create a systematic program to improve the quality of information intake. This is the first step in making good decisions.

Instead of expecting to directly persuade an adult, it is better to change the environment he is in.

1. Books, books, books

Here are some of my suggestions.

• Good insights are in the books.
  
  Since books are mostly tied to authors by their real names, this is a better guarantee of confidence in the content than other source of information.
  
  
• Books are mostly more systematic knowledge.
  
  Books generally discuss ideas relatively completely and show source of information, arguments, etc. It has many benefits for you to perceive and disperse the topic.
  
  
• Long time is the best sifter.
  
  Classic and even basic books that have been sifted through over time are apples of wisdom that should not be ignored.
  
  Looking back to my learning process for large chunks of knowledge, books were always my first starting point. And often the most critical one (of course, how to start also requires a set of methods, and is one of the topic I will write about later). Especially in some traditional issues, you find a book that refreshes your mindset, congratulations, you have found a “node of the network”, a valuable node. Then dig into it!

2. Handing information input from open channels on the internet

Online open channels are likewise not to be ignored, and many of them possess the advantages of breaking through physical limitations, timeliness, and diversity. The efficiency of people’s use of this channel is characterized by a barbell distribution and a high degree of differentiation. There is a lot to learn about how to use information from open channels on the internet. We will find an opportunity to go through it in detail in a subsequent article.

First, I will list a few points.

• Always find a more open information environment, not the other way around.
  
  I thought about this when I chose my main publishing platform. In many countries and regions, the information people post is heavily censored. Many users post content that is owned by the platform side, which is subject to strict political regulation. This has a serious impact on the vitality of production and the quality of information posted.
  
  As individuals, strategies are as follows.
  
  (Producers)
  -Kits like VPN, languages, etc.
  -Don’t rely on single platform
  -Regularly archive content offline
  
  (Consumers)
  -Kits like VPN, languages, etc.
  -Choose more open platforms to access info and consider more regulated platforms as watch pools
  
  
• Be cautious with second-hand information
  
  Much info is presented to the public only after a passive first screening. Market news, for example, often lags and is intentionally released at some time. Therefore, raise caution. If there is a high demand for information such as timeliness, any news seen in public can be treated as second-hand information.
  

• Some general knowledge and experience in communication science will make your information screening more effective.
  
  The study about information and communication has been around for a long time. Therefore, as mentioned earlier, it should first be considered that this is not a new field. Therefore, many concept in the field of communication science are useful for establishing a basic understanding of human-information interaction. For example, the discussion of propaganda, persuade, source, and medium.
  
  
• Sources are very important.
  
  For information obtained from public channels, it is very important to directly find the source first. There are several skills as followed.
  
  -It is crucial to find the source, as opposed to second-hand information or rewriting of ideas
  -Find the source by using references and some search skills
  -Pay attention to cross-checking between sources
  
  
• Pay attention to the people behind the content of the information platform.
  
  A large amount of online information is now mostly published through social platforms, and the cost of publishing is greatly reduced also leading to a wide gap in the information quality. But if used properly, this neutral tool will give you a huge advantage. I think the most important thing for the social platform information access is to judge with probability and focus on people. As an example,
  
  –Pay attention to social identity information. Information about industry posted by a real name account (meaning tied to a people’s real social identity) that you follow on Twitter has a higher confidence than a non-real name account.
  
  -Notice on positions. In game scenarios, people from neutral backgrounds (meaning no obvious bias of interest) are more credible.
  
  -Marking people valuing their reputation. For some people, reputation is an asset that needs to be carefully maintained. If you have identified this group of people, increase the credibility of their words from an average level.
  
  -People opposing the previous one, mark them as well. Reducing their credibility significantly from the average level.
  
  -Identify advertising content. This is also related to the second point. We assume that the publisher of the information must be motivated. Such as interest, psychological, etc. Couple with the business model of web2 social platforms, most of the seemingly neutral content may imply an intention. These are the key thing you need to correct in your perception.

Never waste your time. Remember, you will become what you pay attention to lifetime.

The next article will focus on the following points