Dennis D. McDonald (ddmcd@ddmcd.com) consults from Alexandria Virginia. His services include writing & research, proposal development, and project management.

Using OPML to Exchange Lists of "Experts"

By Dennis D. McDonald

EirePreneur has a real interesting use of OPML files and GRAZR -- a personal list of experts that is shareable. Check it out; it generates discussion about a variety of interrelated topics including tagging, taxonomy, what is an expert, and sexual discrimination (I kid you not).

I've just gotten through with updating my own feeds-on-web-page so I have some questions about the cumbersome nature of this process, but I like the idea.

One frustration I have about the blog post, though, is that I don't know who EirePreneur is -- I can't tell if it is one person, a collective, a male or female, or whatever. I'm sure the people who are close to EirePreneur know all these details but, viewed from across The Pond, I'm having some difficulty visualizing!

So what, you say? Well, I would be the first to admit that if someone wants to maintain anonymity, that's fine with me. But when I consider the various ingredients of what go into defining an "expert," there are some social and interpersonal aspects that might argue against anonymity. (That's not intended as a criticism of EirePreneur it's just how I think about the social and interpersonal aspects of what we mean by "expertise.")

 

 

Presentation: "Using Social Networking & Media to Improve Member Services"

My "How to Publish RSS Feeds on a Web Page" is Updated with Google Reader