I spend most of my time learning from other people, ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants‘. This is taking the ideas of other people, developing them and adding something to them. The result is a synthesis that advances knowledge and civilisation.
This is a very old idea and is said to have been first set down by John of Salisbury, in 1159,
“Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.”
Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
I became aware of this concept, recently, reading a post by Corbett Barr on Zen Habits, ‘My Standing Desk Experiment‘. It talked about his experiment using a standing desk rather than sitting down all day to work. I found it fascinating and, as a result, started my own experiment. I found other posts and articles on this around the net such as:
- A post by Brett and Kate McKay on The Art of Manliness, ‘Become a Stand-Up Guy: The History, Benefits, and Use of Standing Desks‘.
- A post by Kyle Cordes, ‘Standing Desk Experiment and Experiences’.
- An article in The Washington Post, by Michael Rosenwald, ‘Those with a desk job, please stand up‘.
- Information on what should be considered from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
I realised that we all use information and ideas from others but that there is a distinction between the two major types; copying and development.
Copying
This seems to be the most common type of information use and distribution on the net. I have even done it myself.
You take text or thoughts from others and re-package them in your own branding. When you pass this off as your work work that is plagiarism. When you simply re-distribute the work that is known as curating. When you curate material you can spread ideas to a wider audience and help the public get in touch with what is out there.
Copying demeans us and creates much of the rubbish out there. This is only used by people with no imagination and a desire to make a quick buck. This is not standing on the shoulders of giants.
Development
This is where we find ourselves ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’. It’s how knowledge grows deeper in our society and how understanding grows. Occasionally we can have totally original thought, but mostly what we think is original has been published previously. It is important to understand what is out there and make it something bigger.
The academic world does this but, importantly, they do it openly with full credit given to the ideas of others.
The Key To Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
When writing for publishing on the net there are some simple questions to ask yourself:
- Has this subject been discussed before by others?
- Is what I am saying original?
- Am I using what other people have said?
- Am I crediting others?
- Why am I saying this?
- Is this improving people’s understanding of the subject?
- Can I hit the publish button with a clear conscience?
As you write and blog, let me know how you answer these questions, how ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ works for you?