One of my favourite jobs these days is researching and writing a monthly report for a client on trends in information design. I like it for several reasons. One, it forces me to spend time each week listening to and reading about what the thought leaders have to say. They are frequently witty as well as provocative, inducing stimulating debate among their peers. And two, it takes me back to my journalism days, but more on the op-ed side because I have the latitude to select what I think is useful to the client and can even comment where appropriate.
The third reason I like it is that the research has led me to some really interesting (sometimes irrelevant, but still entertaining) places on the net. Most of my sources are RSS feeds or podcasts; that means they come to me in an easy to consume package that is fairly quick to scan. Neither technology even existed in general use a couple of years ago. I'm amazed at that.
For instance, today I discovered that British History Online has just posted all the ordinance survey maps for UK counties. These are very detailed maps, hand drawn right down to the farm field, dating from the 19th century and thus very useful for genealogy sleuthing. I recently discovered that one of my ancestors is from a small village in Sussex. With some digging, I'll be able to pinpoint his birthplace on a map that was made before I was born, that is now available free to anyone, anywhere, with a basic computer. Information design in the 19th century delighting me in the 21st. -- how amazing is that!?