Maven structures and the internets
An online friend of mine who is studying to be a librarian asked the other day, "What do you want the internets to do for you?" She was getting at information access, in terms of search engine functionality, I think, but my immediate response was, "FILTER." Filter people, filter things, filter ideas, filter information. There's so much out there, so many news sites and stores and books and people, that I need the internet to tell me what to pay attention to.
Specifically, I need mavens. Mavens are the key to the way I access the internet. Mavens can be people, or on the internet, they can be sites. Sites with superior search technology function much as mavens do; they make it easy for you to find exactly what you want. (I think; let's talk about this more a little further down.) And of course there are mavens in the Gladwellian sense as well; bloggers have been acknowledged as filling a maven role on the internet for quite some time. The term was coined, as I understand it, by marketing researchers, who discovered that it was not as effective to market directly to the masses as it was to market to certain knowledgeable people who would then do a sort of peer-to-peer marketing. Seth Godin writes more about this in his essay, "Unleashing the Idea Virus," downloadable here.
I'd be the first to admit that I like my interactions filtered to an excessive degree. I was volunteering tonight and getting frustrated with the people I was interacting with; though I really believe in the organization/cause I was working for, I avoid the place sometimes because irritating people volunteer for them and they talk to me. My partner often accuses me of elitism. Perhaps I am an elitist, though a pretty damn mild one - I don't think I'm better than other people, it's just more comfortable/interesting/fun for me (a great deal more) to interact with intelligent, articulate, openminded people. I love the internet because it lets me filter people virtually, to talk only to people I want to spend time on, and to access only the ideas and information I am interested in. Let's not talk about balkanization, the dark side of this coin. Let's just talk about mavens, for a while.
Can a site be a "maven"? I'm not sure. Is Amazon a "maven" site because it brings together multiple stores and consumer options in an easily-searchable user-friendly way? Or does its "recommendations" feature make it a maven? Or is it a maven network, with its "So you'd like to.." lists? I'd be interested in discussing this.
I haven't read Gladwell's book, so a lot of this is me talking out my ass (surprise, surprise!). But I'd love to hear your thoughts on how maven structures function online.
In entirely unrelated news, library science is gaining in appeal. I think I could be happy as a librarian. It probably would have been best if I'd figured this out before spending $30K to get a master's in my current field, but hey. I'm just in the thinky stages about this right now. Librarians are cool. I like what they do. I like what they think about. I could be good at that. And happy, which would be the key difference from my current setup.
Specifically, I need mavens. Mavens are the key to the way I access the internet. Mavens can be people, or on the internet, they can be sites. Sites with superior search technology function much as mavens do; they make it easy for you to find exactly what you want. (I think; let's talk about this more a little further down.) And of course there are mavens in the Gladwellian sense as well; bloggers have been acknowledged as filling a maven role on the internet for quite some time. The term was coined, as I understand it, by marketing researchers, who discovered that it was not as effective to market directly to the masses as it was to market to certain knowledgeable people who would then do a sort of peer-to-peer marketing. Seth Godin writes more about this in his essay, "Unleashing the Idea Virus," downloadable here.
I'd be the first to admit that I like my interactions filtered to an excessive degree. I was volunteering tonight and getting frustrated with the people I was interacting with; though I really believe in the organization/cause I was working for, I avoid the place sometimes because irritating people volunteer for them and they talk to me. My partner often accuses me of elitism. Perhaps I am an elitist, though a pretty damn mild one - I don't think I'm better than other people, it's just more comfortable/interesting/fun for me (a great deal more) to interact with intelligent, articulate, openminded people. I love the internet because it lets me filter people virtually, to talk only to people I want to spend time on, and to access only the ideas and information I am interested in. Let's not talk about balkanization, the dark side of this coin. Let's just talk about mavens, for a while.
Can a site be a "maven"? I'm not sure. Is Amazon a "maven" site because it brings together multiple stores and consumer options in an easily-searchable user-friendly way? Or does its "recommendations" feature make it a maven? Or is it a maven network, with its "So you'd like to.." lists? I'd be interested in discussing this.
I haven't read Gladwell's book, so a lot of this is me talking out my ass (surprise, surprise!). But I'd love to hear your thoughts on how maven structures function online.
In entirely unrelated news, library science is gaining in appeal. I think I could be happy as a librarian. It probably would have been best if I'd figured this out before spending $30K to get a master's in my current field, but hey. I'm just in the thinky stages about this right now. Librarians are cool. I like what they do. I like what they think about. I could be good at that. And happy, which would be the key difference from my current setup.
posted by The Stute Fish at 14:08
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