The Connected Age: Are you a bursty Web worker?

Industrial Age begat the Information Age, which is begetting the Connected Age. I was going to write some well-thought-out, provocative ideas about this, but Anne Zelenka really explains it best:

Knowledge Worker (Information Age) vs. Web Worker (Connected Age)

The Information Age is the age of the knowledge worker. The Connected Age is the age of the web worker. Knowledge workers create and manage information, massaging it into intangible knowledge goods. Web workers create and manage relationships across knowledge goods, hardware, and people. The table below, taken from Web Worker Daily’s upcoming book “Connect! Web Worker Daily’s Guide to a New Way of Working” contrasts knowledge work and web work. Of course, in practice individual workers may take a hybrid approach, combining aspects of both.

From The Information Age To The Connected Age – GigaOM.

And, check out a review of her most recent book, Connect! A Guide to a New Way of Working from GigaOM’s Web Worker Daily:

When I was at Intel [Gia’s note: I and others are currently in the throes of persuading Intel about the value of Lotus Connections], the focus was more on knowledge work, but I am noticing that at my current employer, the focus is on web work as Anne defines it with collaboration, openness, and relationships being of utmost importance.

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Connect!: A Guide to a New Way of Working from GigaOM’s Web Worker Daily.

The reviewer goes on to say:

Busy vs. bursty is also a common theme throughout the book. Busy work is based on work hours, email, company relationships, inflexible long-term planning, and web surfing as a time waster, while bursty work is about getting the job done regardless of hours worked, collaboration tools instead of email, relationships that are broader than just your company, agile planning, and web surfing as fuel for ideas.

I’m a bursty Web worker. How about you?

Slowly but surely, the idea that HUMANS are really who you’re working with, and not “resources”, is taking over. Knowing how an individual feels and thinks – and their quirks and preferences – is just as important as knowing what their competencies are. And understanding how to relate well to someone is critical. How else can you gain their tacit knowledge?

This is really what happens when you create trusted relationships via social networking software – you gain the potential to access their tacit knowledge, and vice versa.