Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I know you`ve wondered before about physical location regarding developing an online site or business. Once again, the entire concept of a global Internet is to remove physical location from the mix, pretty much entirely.

I do some "remote work," as it`s called, where I`ve never met any of the people involved directly. I`ve only met them online, via email, or through phone conversations. Some live in the US, others in Australia and the UK. Project managers are living somewhere else, and the corporate building is on the East Coast somewhere.

To ask how you`ll meet a like-minded individual is pretty much the same as asking how do we meet friends. Well? You wander around, talk with folks, become a part of groups and forums, and so on and so forth. The only difference is that in an electronic world, much of that "wandering around" is done via text.

In my own opinion, I think there`s a basic issue with the concept of the site, and that`s the individual way people associate knowledge with other knowledge. There isn`t any single way people connect ideas together---associate them. Some people have better systems than others, and some people have better memories than others.

It seems that you`re building a sort of "mind map," for general information rather than a particular topic. How is this different from using hyperlinks to connect various types of information and topics?

Thanks, Craig, for your comment.

You`re right that nearly everyone will associate various knowledge differently. That is why the site is open to any and all variations. The purpose is to provide readers with possible avenues of knowledge links and act as a reference - and not to act a curriculum.

Yes, it is a mind map of sorts. The difference is that hyperlinks (like those used in Wikipedia) do not provide any contextual connection between two topics. They are simply a means to navigate - as you move from one topic to the next via a hyperlink, no connection remains to the previous topic. By contrast, Intermz`s gelz are the links between two topics, fully contextualized to provide a thorough description of how any two topics can be related.

Please have a short look at Computer programming in termz of Musical composition to get a beter understanding of how a "gel" differs greatly from hyperlinks. Further feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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|Ted Pin
|www.intermz.com - Learn everything you want, fast.
|www.intermz.com/blog

I think you`re maybe missing an important aspect of hyperlinks. Although they`re technically a way to navigate to pages, they`re contextually no different from footnotes, endnotes, cross references, indices, and a table of contents, back when print media was all we had.

A hyperlink is created by the author, based on the context---the association--with other content. In Wikipedia, if you`re reading about Mozart, who was a musician, you can link to "musician" to discover the concept of music.
 
Music is a language, logical system, harmonic, or whatever else, and each of those conceps can be linked in context. Properly developed hyperlinks offer a system to move in and around concepts and their super sets, as well as their sub sets, without losing one`s original starting point.

I read the linked article above, which is where I began my thinking about some of the questions herein. On the other hand, you may want to take a look at the WordNet project. This is a new type of dictionary, formulated out of the same associated thinking system.

To address the topic here, though, I`d suggest that in the beginning, YOU are likely going to have to build the content of the system. If you can find like-minded people, great; but if not, it`s up to you how far you want to go with the project. Your competition is Wikipedia, not to mention the many other "wikis" out there.

Your additional competition is the search engine market, particularly Google, which is spending a lot of money on associations---what they`re calling "relevance." It`s not to say you don`t have a good idea, or that it won`t work. Only that you`re going to have to accept that it`ll take time.

I get the sense that in some ways, you`re feeling impatient that this idea hasn`t caught on like a wildfire? :-) Remember that most entrepreneurs get all jazzed about their new idea, and assume the rest of the world has been standing around waiting for this to happen.

Back when I was playing professionally, we had a high-school graduation to play. Look at the way I phrased that---"a high-school graduation." That`s how we, the band, along with the agents all looked at it; a booking. We didn`t know the name of the school, the kids, or anything other than directions to the gym.

At one point, some of the guys in the band weren`t really paying attention. They`d been drinking, and the music was a bit off. One of the managing chaperones came up and read us the riot act.

"To you guys, this is just a gig; it`s a quick buck, filling in a time-slot during an open weekend. But think about the kids here: To them, it`s a once-in-a-lifetime event. They`ll remember this graduation prom for the rest of their lives!"

I never forgot that. It brought home the entire meaning of "perspective" for me. Like a wedding, where the people there will remember it forever, but to the band it`s just another afternoon job. So too, you have to remember perspective when you`re developing a new idea.

To you, this is all consuming, fascinating, involving, and a passion. But how does it look to others, or the rest of the world? When you say you want skilled people to write useful and pertinent content, why should they...or would they? What`s the incentive? Why would they care? They`re usually busy with their own passion and involvement.

If, on the other hand, you`re doing something unusual and interesting, and it`s enough to pique the interest in other teachers, educators, psychologists, writers, and so forth, then they`ll naturally get involved. See? For now, you have the burden of making that "unusual-ness."