About

Hello and welcome! I’m Chris Stewart.

I’m doing the Idea Maven blog for three key reasons:

1. Posting tidbits of relevant content on the topics I love.
2. Responding to posts made by bloggers I admire and respect when I feel a need to bring something to the table of discourse.
3. Building a creative outlet for my ideas and what I’m doing to make them reality.

I’m excited to embark on this creative journey, and hope that you’ll enjoy the ride as well. The Idea Maven takes its name from my personal desire for this blog to become a catalyst for promoting ideas around a number of topics, mostly related to technology, in collaboration with you, the readers. In turn, we can learn from one another and improve as we go. My personal motto is “keep moving forward”, which basically sums my deep love for the application of technology to spur innovation in every facet of society and shape our culture for the better (NOTE: I borrow the phrase from a Walt Disney quote that found its way into Meet the Robinsons, a movie I highly recommend for everyone to watch at least once).

You may be asking yourself at this point, “So, what topics surrounding technology do you love?” I am almost obsessed with all matters Web 2.0, which in my humble definition is “any web site that promotes creative participation from its user base toward a common purpose”. For example, Flickr enables people to share photos publicly with strangers who are interested in the same subject matter; MySpace, Facebook, et al, provide users the ability to stay connected more easily with their “friends” without the real-world social overhead. Social media will feature prominently in my posts along these lines, as I am presently working on some concepts in that space to empower richer interaction through mining elements of the social graph waiting to be explored.

Another topic that lights my fire is the Semantic Web. While at this point more theoretical than practical, I firmly believe that the groundwork is being laid for a new generation of tools that will drive all kinds of new applications. You will see posts at the Idea Maven from time to time that will discuss developments in this space, interviews with professionals in the industry, and any of my ideas that cry for public feedback.

Lastly, I will try to incorporate posts that present the real-world benefits of a better-connected social web. Topics may vary widely between micro-finance, cultural evolution, social capitalism (yet another hot-button topic), and overall discourses on areas where market demand, technology, good companies, and the social graph intersect.

As for personal context, I am currently a technologist working undercover as a software developer for a major insurance company based in Dallas, Texas. A graduate of Southwestern A/G University in Waxahachie, Texas, I pursued a degree in Pastoral Studies. Not Computer Science, as my school only offered a single course in computer applications, and for the personal desire to learn how to better share the true peace that only comes through faith in Jesus Christ. I’m considering graduate programs at several universities at the moment in business (MBA) or technology (MIS), but will mostly likely wait to enroll until I successfully exit a venture. In terms of field experience, I’ve been developing software and databases for ten years, mostly in Microsoft technologies. In my current work I am attempting to step away from the developer/engineer realm and focus on system architecture and overall design. I’m an avid book reader, with current favorites including The Myths of Innovation, by Scott Berkun; Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days, by Jessica Livingston; The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki; and the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell.

I’m looking forward to reading your feedback, both positive and negative, and will occasionally work some of the common themes and questions into posts as they best fit the Idea Maven at the moment. Visit my contact page on this blog to learn about other ways to get in touch.

On behalf of me, myself, and I, enjoy your visit!

Chris Stewart
aka the Idea Maven