Here’s another Snowflake Effect example of how sites are starting to catch up on ways to help people deal with the abundance of choice and on providing what I like to refer to as “decision support”—helping all of us to make “just the right” choice and decisions at just the right time, etc.
This example is from BestInClass.com, which provides assistance on how to choose “just the right” digital camera. In our previous world where products and solutions were mass produced, we saw “shootout” types of testing and reporting in magazines. These publications would purport to inform us which camera was the “winner” and the best choice for us. But this information was completely devoid of individual context: what factors, such as price, picture quality, size, weight, convenience of controls, etc., did I care about the most? Without these factors being taken into account, and with the combination of answers to all these preferences making what’s “just right” for me increasingly unique, then how could they possibly know which camera was best for me?
Of course they couldn’t, and so we learned (often the hard way) that we still needed to try to sort through all this testing data, as well as opinions from friends (and strangers), and hope we could figure out the best choice.
In the coming era of the Snowflake Effect, where things are increasingly being mass customized—witness for example the continuing growth of more and more choices of digital cameras and their options—we need more help than ever to find just the right camera, or whatever product, service, person, or content that we are seeking. Increasingly we “know” that a “just right” choice is out there, but finding it and choosing it is the big new challenge.
While BestInClass is but one small example, consider how this offering is trying out ways to help us with decision support in selecting “the best digital camera for me.”
In addition to checking out the BestInClass web site, you can also find other reviews about it online, such as the March 15, 2009 posting on TechCrunch “BestInClass Tries To Help Consumers Find The Perfect Digital Camera”
While they are focused on electronic equipment and expect to add more types to their offerings, it doesn’t take much extrapolation to start to imagine this same type of service being offered for other kinds of decision support (e.g. Who is the best person for me to ask this question of? What’s the best thing for me to read/listen to/watch to learn more about this? What’s the best way for me to get up-to-speed on using this piece of equipment?
I’d be curious to know what other examples of decision support you are seeing, and I’d especially like to learn about your experiences with them. What kinds of choices and needs do YOU see coming next or want to see? What are YOU or your organization doing to offer this type of decision support to your clients, members, students?
We “snowflakes” need all the help we can get, so we can “get better at getting better” with our decision making. I see this kind of support becoming increasingly available and I expect it will continue along an exponential growth curve.
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