The Defining Skill to Thrive in the

Information AgeDo You Want to Process It?

By Saliya Nugawela

Welcome to the information age. Answers for the questions

you have are at the tips of your fingers— if you know where,

and how, to look.

Whether we’re buying a pair of jeans, ordering a book, selecting a

long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or

setting up a bank account, everyday decisions-both big and small-

have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming

abundance of choice with which we are presented.

Search is among the most fascinating innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe.

To thrive in the Information Age you must know where, and how, to look for the information you need.

This skill alone can decide whether you strive or thrive in the information age.

‘‘We never, ever in the history of mankind have had

access to so much information so quickly and so easily.’’

- Vint Cerf, one of "the fathers of the Internet"

Today, Information surrounds us as surely as water surrounds a fish. For all the

uncountable words and pictures we can summon up with the click of a mouse,

the Information Age poses its own unique problem: With so much information

available, finding the useful fact or reliable study or collection of data to

answer a question turns out to be more challenging than it seems, even with

powerful tools like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc… to help us look.

The activity of information seeking, that is, the process we go through when searching and locating information in order to strengthen our state of knowledge, is the most important defining skill you need to develop in order to thrive in the Information Age.