In his fantastic book Everything Is Miscellaneous, David Weinberger takes
the reader through a tour of the digital order that is changing how we
approach, knowledge and information. This new digital order, built on
bits, not atoms allows students to think about information and
knowledge in different ways. In a way, it is very similar to what Edward de Bono spoke of in his book Lateral Thinking, which was first published 38 years ago, in 1970.
by rutty
Edward de Bono compared vertical thinking with lateral thinking.
“Vertical thinking is analytical, lateral thinking is provocative.”
The
physical world requires that we spend a great deal of time developing a
very structured set of codes, rules, and organization so information
can be found. The digital world make is possible to organize
information any way that makes sense to us. We are not limited to the
space on a card catalog or a label. We can put as much information into
a digital bit of information as we can imagine.
“With vertical thinking one has to be correct at every step, with lateral thinking one does not have to be.”
Make a mistake in the card catalog or reading a label and you are not
going to be successful in your search. But, as we know, there are
multiple ways to search for something in search engines. Make a
mistake, and you simply change your approach. You are never out of the
game in the digital world because other people like you may have
thought about your subject in the very same way.
“Vertical thinking is sequential, lateral thinking can make jumps.”
The physical world of information is very sequential because of the
limits of physical space. The digital world allows us to jump around to
look at subjects loosely related to the information one is seeking or
to quickly jump to tried and true resources or resources that have
never been viewed before. It just takes a click.
“With vertical thinking one uses the negative in order to block of certainty. With lateral thinking there is no negative.”
The physical world of atoms allows very few ways to organize
information, while the digital world allows virtually unlimited ways to
organize it.
“With vertical thinking on concentrates and excludes what is irrelevant, with lateral thinking one welcomes chance intrusions” The digital world welcomes more information, even it seems irrelevant to most. It may be very relevant to a few. Therefore as Weinberger says, “… solution to the overabundance of information is more information.”
“With vertical thinking categories, classifications and labels are fixed, with lateral thinking they are not.”
For example, a type of dog, say a Rhodesian Ridgeback can be classified
only so many ways in the physical world or card catalogs, charts, and
shelves. Usually, following biology terms such as vertebrate, mammal,
etc. Space limits what you can do. But without the limits of space,
such as in the digital world, the same dog could be tagged as things
with four legs, things that chase cars, things that eat dog food,
things that have a tail, things that have paws, or things that bark.
The choices are almost limitless. It all depends on how one chooses
think about the subject, which allows one to be very creative in their
approach.
“Vertical thinking follows the most likely path, lateral thinking explores the least likely.”
Anyone
who has spent anytime on the web can tell you they reached some cool
website or found a great book, but they have no idea how they got
there. Click after click after click we follow our thinking down “the
rabbit hole” and discover what we might be looking for in very odd
ways. This isn’t true for a library. It will be very predictable. It
will be the “most likely path.”
“Vertical thinking is a finite process, lateral thinking is a probablistic one.”
I want to find a book, I look on the shelf and there it is. In the
digital world though, I find the book I am looking for and 5 others
that are related to the first. I then investigate one of those and
discover pictures, video, and music all because someone else thinks it
relates. As I continue probing I gain even more information and
resources which to use.
Quite possibly, Edward de Bono
wrote 37 years ago about the type of thinking that would actually allow our students to be even more effective in the digital world of bits described so
wonderfully by David Weinberger.
Recommended Reading:
Everything is Miscellaneous in Education: Part 1
Green Hat Thinking
Everything Is Miscellaneous blog
The de Bono Group