Create, Consistently
Kevin Patch
Co-Founder, Gold Bamboo
North Andover, Massachusetts
Squidoo: How did you decide what to make your lenses about? Your lenses range quite widely -- from Leonardo Da Vinci to Edema. How do you balance the different approaches?
Kevin: Well, I have a lot of interests. I am a big fan of Leonardo Da Vinci, so I thought it was logical to make the /artist lens about him. My professional interests online mostly center around health and wellness. I am involved in creating the site Gold Bamboo, so all the health- and illness-oriented lenses are an offshoot of that. I have a personal interest providing information and direction, especially to those suffering from chronic illnesses that the medical community often cannot help with.
S: How do you select the conditions and treatments you address?
K: I chose ones that I know a bit about, or that are relatively chronic and difficult to cure with contemporary medical science -- or have a particularly good track record with alternative therapy. It's a mix, with most of them falling into several of those classes.
S: Your lenses seem relatively consistent in terms of the kinds of content you offer, where you get the information, and what modules you choose. How do you approach lens making?
K: I try to put in a reasonable definition, a module of links to Gold Bamboo topics that were applicable, some news headlines that were on topic, and some Amazon listings.
I plan on circling back and expanding my lenses as I get time -- and as additional modules become available. I am very interested in the possibility of writing custom modules myself. Opening up Squidoo and allowing users to not only roll lenses, but also to syndicate content and links to each other via custom modules would be neat.
S: What have you done with your lens that you can't do at Gold Bamboo?
It's not that there are technical capabilities that exist in lensbuilding that don't exist on one's own site, it's more about being involved in the community surrounding lens building and lens viewing. Squidoo provides a consistent platform for people to view content, images and ideas... without first learning the look and feel of yet another site.
