The solution to information overload is more information, combined with a looser, more intuitive approach to processing it. People make decisions by matching patterns based on a variety of inputs. Ambient knowledge may actually be more effective for decision making in companies than the codified mono-directional memo, email, and task assignment culture.

Companies have finally begun adopting social software tools and techniques to change the way internal teams work. We have been integrating a wide range of social software tools, internal and external web services, and feeds to build low-footprint enterprise group collaboration tools for law firms, thinktanks, and other knowledge-based organisations. We are creating mutable systems that are plugged in to a diverse array of applications and APIs, providing a human interface to enterprise systems and leveraging existing stock.

Bryant explores three key lessons about coping with aggregation, attention, and attenuation, based on evidence drawn from practice:

• We need to let go of conveyor belt information processing in favour of immersion in the ambient "flow," trusting that information will find people if the network is sufficiently connected. Scary!
• Social tagging, blogs and the "wiki way" support the negotiation of language and shared meaning within groups; the new challenge for information architects is how to add value to this process, rather than get in the way.
• Groups and teams need their own maps and their own viewpoints. How do we let people reach into back-end systems to create their own localised enterprise information?