Play with the Platform
Rachel Schwarz
Editor, BellaOnline
Seattle
Squidoo: How did you learn about Squidoo?
Rachel: An article in the New York Times. I make it a habit to keep an eye on whatever they're writing about in their technology section. As someone who finds sitting in front of a computer for many hours a day pretty agreeable, it's just a habit. I've been involved in various online communities for some years now. I was an editor of the old Tripod pods once upon a time, and I've been an editor with BellaOnline for the last four years now. On a more personal level, Squidoo not only looked interesting once I'd tripped over it. It also seemed like something I could actually do and enjoy myself.
S: How did you decide what to make your lenses about?
R: I've got a pretty eclectic bunch of interests, and the structure and purpose of Squidoo plays well to folks like me, who otherwise might seem too diversified. The only other place I've written about all my varied interests under one header without someone thinking it's a mixed-up, odd bunch of topics has been my own site, which I've had since about 1998. Up until Squidoo, there hasn't been a site where I could write about my non-adult and adult interests side by side except my own site.
S: What else have you done with your lenses that you can't do elsewhere?
R: The speed with which a lens that is both broad and deep comes together is something that is easier to do with Squidoo than with a homegrown web page. The modules that form a lens allow for much faster assembly. On my own web page, I can pick a topic and start writing, but there I'm most often just pulling from my own pool of knowledge and resources.
Squidoo also lets people who aren't photographers get good pictures and lets people with no product to sell offer something. And the bookmarklet is almost obscene in how easy it makes adding a web resource. You guys have almost eliminated the need to go back and update a page, as you can grab the lens and update that page right in the middle of wherever/whenever.
Some of my lenses draw from material on my site. Mostly, Squidoo has given me another angle from which to view the web and to interact. One of the first things I figured out working on the net was that having more than one "lab" was a good thing. It lets you experiment with info and how people relate to it.
S: Have you taken any cues from other lenses so far?
R: It's all so new. I try to look at as much as I can. I don't know if I've taken any cues from another lens, but I sure like seeing how people are playing with the technology.
Sadly, a lot of the titles that seem to snag my eye are often lenses that are under construction -- or only just claimed. One lens I came across I felt was so poor, I stopped right where I was and made one of my own on the same topic. I'm sure you could look at my lenses and figure out which one that was! Now, of course, comes the fun part: How does it perform against that first one? Which one is better at offering what people want?
S: Once you've published a lens, what do you do with it?
R: It might be five minutes or five days, but most often a lens gets tweaked once it's published. Sometimes new content arises, and sometimes I get a better idea for how to present something.
I'm just starting to plug in promos for my lenses on my site, but most of my lenses lead back to something else I do. I just got back from a trip to Nevada, so that lens has new material. I stumbled across a labyrinth and some art cars on my trip -- which was unplanned but very welcome -- and, hey, I just happen to have lenses on both of those topics. Now I've got new material for them, too!
S: What advice or ideas would you offer other lensmasters?
R: Play. Break your own rules. Try something that baffles you slightly.
I did this with my lens Purple. I love purple, and I was curious how that would work as a lens. That lens exists now, and I look forward to seeing what that exploration of purple leads to. I'm not the first or only person I've known who was really into a singular color, so I figure it might bring out some of those green, pink and blue people I've met. Same goes for the one I have on velvet.
I've always felt that interacting on the web was a lot like gardening. As technological as it is, it's more like the organic process of planting and growing. Other factors come in, some which you can influence, and some which you can't. You do a certain amount, and then you sit back and let the process run for a bit. Then you weed, water, replant, and it goes on.
S: What one lens do you wish existed?
I don't know if I want a definitive answer for that one. As soon as I answer it, I could create that lens, and then the answer would be something else again... and again... and again...
Given that I'm sitting here watching a steady stream of lenses come out of my head and take shape in Squidoo, I guess I'm gonna be here for a while.
