Living Data

Kevin Kelly recently noted that the web has evolved from many linked pages to an interconnected flow state.

Data is no longer solid-state. We need to adapt our thinking to the new reality of the Internet, in which the material we create is more organic.

Data has become a life form, we are the designers.

This means posting the same repetitive material over and over on your blog is out, and creating living/breathing/organic/updated/accurate content that progresses with yourself through space/time is in.

The benefits of living content:

1. Evergreen.

Living content exists for as long as it is needed. This means our work as creators revolves around timelessness.

Can this work be read tomorrow or next year and still teach relevant information? Creating content that is useful within a wide realm of space/time is advantageous, because then it's work that you only have to do once. The value, disconnected from immediacy, extends through time without losing it's usefulness.

The challenge here is in the minds of the audience. If a blog post didn't come out today, is it still relevant? It will be if it's living.

Living content can be retweeted/shared at any point in space/time, instead of just the day it is posted.

2. Evolution.

Living content can grow over time. As you grow, the content grows too in an organic way. If a new idea comes that is relevant to the content, or perhaps even unseats previous assumptions, you're welcome and even encouraged to update the flow of the work -- making it more timeless.

The content becomes more like a garden which you tend to and love. In turn, it will provide for you. In this way, we waste less energy. The content gives back more as we put in more.

Instead of creating a disposable newspaper-like product to be recycled at the end of the day, we've created a child which will grow with us through space/time.

3. Intelligence.

Over time the data moves and grows with the work, in essence it becomes more intelligent. This contributes to the intelligence of the readers who are consuming the material. Instead of simply consuming data for it's own sake, you're consuming data that has been grown over time in order to become more valuable to you through space/time.

This is a win/win because over time the data becomes more intelligent with the writer, readers, and itself.