Shallow dive highlights an unusual or interesting development that will have significance in the medium to long term for business, research, government or society in a less than one-page article.
Uses of the method
Benefits
Disadvantages
Steps to complete
Style:
Business/ journalistic rather than research/ academic
Direct, lively language - not passives
Not loaded with abstract nouns
Make EVERY word count
Business, so not too informal
Explain any acronyms / abbreviations used
Interpretation of implication but NOT personal ‘I think’ piece
Not a personal rant but evidenced argument of what is happening out there
Structure:
Very brief over view of key argument (almost an abstract) for para 1.
Short paragraph(s) on 'what is changing?' the different items you are bringing together, the trend, direction of change, issues i.e. the key 'story' of the alert.
Short paragraph)s) on 'why is this important?' Impacts and implications – some can be adapted from the text of articles found/ used to develop / demonstrate the change.
Title:
Short and reflects the theme and direction if possible (less than 25 characters).
Audience:
Business/government - so what to do useful but not essential.
Implications important, at every step.
Focus:
Some on all of the following:
Something new, that has made you go 'oh that's interesting',
Longer term issue that is important and new aspects are emerging, or overlooked,
Preferably referring to / drawing on several items to give it substance, and a firm basis, rather than pure opinion or simply one item which makes it more like an abstract or a précis!
Preferably relevant to more than one sector / audience / industry.
It can be a new aspect of an existing trend; a completely new development; a speculative ‘what if?’ based on a combination of events and the author’s knowledge and judgment.
It should be based on more than one item, unless that is a key item and you can then interpret and add value around it; to avoid it simply being a précis.
Sources:
Links used to develop the alert. Please insert footnotes in the text of the alert, at the location for the link, and put the link itself into a footnote.
Ethos:
Win:win – that it should help you the author as well as providing us with new content. e.g. help you develop ideas on an area of interest; reinforce research / scanning you do on a regular basis. Target areas when you want to develop new client business.
Collaboration
This method and your response can be shared with other members or kept private using the 'Privacy' field and through the 'Tag', 'Report' and 'Forum' functionalities. Use 'Tag' and/or 'Report' to aggregate your analyzes, or add a 'Forum' to ask others where they agree/disagree and encourage them to make their own analysis from their unique vantage point.
Click the 'Invite tab to send invitations to other members or non-members (colleagues, external experts etc.) to ask for their input. You can whether or not you want anonymous responses. These can be viewed and exported within the Responses tab.
Further reference
Contact us
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