A Connector rather than an Omnivore

At Susannah Fox’s suggestion, I took the Pew Internet & American Life Project Internet Typology Quiz, and I came out as a Connector.

This is one step below an Omnivore, and I think based on the fact that I don’t watch TV shows on anything other than a TV (who has the disk space for these things). I certainly fit in the demographic described.

I can relate this to my sabbatical experience in that as I have visited new places (or even familiar places), people refer to me someone who’s a bit of a technophile (or even “geek doctor”). None of the words are meant in a pejorative way, and all are from people with whom I share mutual respect. In actuality though, technology doesn’t really excite me, or even impress me the way that improving systems and people’s ability to do things does.

In much of the work I have been doing around the Toyota Management System, there’s been a great emphasis on only using tried and true technology. Paper is a great way to organize one’s self, and I am finishing up the paper-based visual system for my work here. It’s great, and I’ll be posting it soon. My workplan focuses very little on installing technology and more on transforming care.

How I do relate to technology is that I want to understand everything it does, and I enjoy mastering it, so that I can have access to the most useful tools around. That’s more change agent than it is technophile, I would say, so I’ll substitute “Connector” in conversations from now on:

Connectors combine a sense that information technology is good for social purposes with a clear recognition that online resources are a great way to learn new things.

If you are reading this, take the quiz yourself and post your Internet type here as a comment….

Ted Eytan, MD