I’m really beginning to like the “Maven” title

While searching for information on Cognitive Psychology, Social Networks, and Social Network Analysis, I stumbled across an old (circa 2002) yet informative page on Social Network Analysis. The author, Peter Morville, focused in on Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point characters, namely Connectors and Mavens. Interested to read Gladwell’s take on Mavens once again, I immediately jumped up from my desk, dusted off my copy of Tipping Point, and flipped to page 59. It was refreshing to remember that Mavens not only collect information, but act upon social motivation to distribute their collective knowledge to the non-Mavens in the marketplace. Gladwell describes several anecdotes to carry his point, but the basic premise stands on its own: Mavens act as a balancing force in the marketplace. An eye for detail; unquenchable thirst for knowledge, “best practices”, and processes; and fundamental desire to benefit their society motivate their behavior. I have a feeling the motivation behind the term “Idea Maven” for this blog originally germinated from Gladwell’s work.

Perhaps this is a small revelation, but it solidifies in my mind that the vision of this blog is the aggregation and dissemination of knowledge. Thank you, Peter and Malcolm. My search for information continues; I can’t wait to share my findings with you in due time. Still working on the Cog. Psych. meets Social Networking post; also have raw facts for a post I’m doing this week on my personal experiences with Kluster, the crowd-sourcing up-start start-up run by Ben Kaufman. Having participated in their 72 Hour Project for the TED conference, I have some feedback to share that desperately deserves marked criticism.