If you attended the keynote for the SSP’s 2008 Annual Meeting, you heard Alex Wright of the New York Times give a fascinating talk about Paul Otlet. Now, in an article in the Times, Alex drills down into some of Otlet’s works and provides fascinating multimedia.
This proves that ideas and how they manifest themselves are both keys to adoption. A great idea executed in a way that is inaccessible to the intended user — which usually happens because the visionary is well ahead of the available infrastructure and user mental models needed for success — will have a fate similar to the innovations Otlet envisioned.
Recommended reading. Enjoy.