Take the Lensmaster Challenge
Ray Daly
Programmer
Vienna, Virginia
Squidoo: How did you decide what to make your lenses about?
Ray: I've published 10 lenses and have two more in the works. The common element is that I have an interest in each topic: Marshall McLuhan, Sudoku, the Sony Ericsson w600i -- and myself.
The other common element is that I take on each concept as a challenge. For example, with my Christmas Beers and Ales lens, I wanted to see what would happen with a seasonal lens. With the 2005 Top 10 Lists lens, I wanted to see if I could create a historic lens that you wouldn't want to update.
Until I accepted your Super Bowl challenge, when I made the Super Bowl XL Ads lens, I never really looked to create a "popular" lens. With my Sudoku lens, which has been in the Top 10 for a long time, I was just looking for a place to publicly display links that I had gathered while building my AllSudoko.com site.
In summary, I build lenses for myself -- and share them.
S: Do you maintain a web site or blog otherwise?
R: Several. I've been working on web sites for over 10 years. In fact, Jan. 23 was the 10th birthday for my HTML editor written in JavaScript, HTMLjive. I've been doing JavaScript for more than 10 years now. You'll find little bits of my JavaScripts all over the web in several different languages. Because of JavaScript, I'm also a fan of AJAX (and the Squidoo forms).
My blog, ABCEDmindedness is almost three years old. I have several domain names stashed away for projects I might someday get to. When I'm not composing lenses, much of my focus is on AllSudoko.com.
S: What have you done with your lenses that you can't do elsewhere?
R: I think there are two very different styles of lenses: static and dynamic. The static lenses are primarily a set of links. My Vienna, Virginia, lens is an example. The difference between these and a page of bookmarks is tags. This is something I'm just starting to appreciate about Squidoo.
The dynamic pages, then, are really aggregators -- and certainly not something I could do elsewhere. For example, the lens I'm about to publish on Dave Winer aggregates his various blogs and Flickr photos and points to his various web sites. I also try to link to lenses others have done related to his work ( e.g. RSS, OMPL, etc.). This creates a single page with his latest feeds that you can not get without visiting his sites individually.
S: What advice or ideas would you offer other lensmasters?
R: My second favorite book is the Seven Laws of Money, and the first law is: Do It! That is my advice: Just do a lens on something that you know -- your town, your favorite breakfast, your collection of whatever, where you've taken vacations. Try one.
As for ideas, they are everywhere. I might create a lens that is a list of my 10 favorite books of all time, since I just told you my second favorite. I'm watching my TiVo, so I might do one on the show I'm watching. Or how about a road trip you've always wanted to take?
If you want feedback on your lens, ask for it in the lens.
And I think there is no harm is redoing an existing lens. You'll probably end up with something different than you expected.
Finally, put links in your lens to other lenses. There are starting to be enough of them now to make it possible. For example, my Ray Daly lens links to all of my other lenses.
S: What is your most favorite book?
R: You'll have to wait for that lens to find out.
