Learn This Medium

Think of this as Volume 17, Number 3 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

There are lots of stories written about
how “young people” are “clueless” about using the Internet.

These often feature pictures left on
Facebook of people being young and stupid. Young and stupid are sort
of synonomous.

But it's true. People have been fired
from jobs, or lost an opportunity for advancement, because some biddy
saw something they wrote or said online that, in the clear light of
day, they probably should not have written, said, or had
photographed.

I would hope that, over time, as this
medium becomes a natural, normal part of growing up, we might be more
forgiving of this. The whole argument is pretty stupid.

No. The problem is not what young
people do about themselves online. It's how they deal with this
firehose of information online.

You can learn anything on this medium,
and there's a shortage of curiousity. More important, anyone can
start a career, in anything, using this medium. It's shameful that
more don't take advantage.

The key to understanding is related to
what I wrote recently concerning the news business. The Internet is
about depth. It's not about breadth of knowledge, it's about the
depth of knowledge you can bring to any specific task. Mastering the
nuances of the one thing you care most about will make you the
expert, the only choice, and the master of your own fate.

Have you ever thought of creating a
wiki? You don't have to post it. You can do it locally. But go online
and find everything you absolutely can about whatever it is you care
most about, no matter how obscure it is. Organize that information so
others can drill-down more easily than you did. Build outlines, do
summaries, create a catalogue of the people who show themselves to be
truly expert.

Absorb it all. Then, when you're ready,
add your own two cents. Go to the sites you've identified as
influential and, based on your reading to date, make your own views
known. Respectfully. Using your own name. Admit that you're just
learning, but say that you want to learn more.

You will be amazed at how welcoming
real experts are when they're approached in that way. Anyone who
learns enough about something wants most of all to teach it, to pass
that knowledge on. So listen, and organize what you collect, so that
when you speak again it can be with a little more authority.

As with everything, there are even
shortcuts you can take to make all this easier. Here is one. Remember that the narrower your focus, and the deeper you go inside
that focus, the more specialized expertise you will develop.

Before you know it you'll be an expert
in the one thing you most want to be expert at, and respected in the
one area where you most want to be respected. That's the opportunity
this medium affords, to the recent college graduate. Take the
opportunity.

Then, when you've absorbed all everyone
else knows, advance things just a little more, and be willing to
teach those who come after you. Do these things and I guarantee
you'll be happy, you'll be satisfied with your life, you'll be useful
to others, and you'll be a true citizen of the 21^st
century.