I first heard about Browsr in a comment to one of my posts. In some ways it’s a standard bookmarking site, but at this point lacks most of the advanced features of Del.icio.us, Shadows, Wink, etc.
But Browsr does have one feature that is interesting. Bookmarks are categorized, and others can rate the usefullness of the bookmark. Browsr then creates a home page directory of the most popular categories and the highest ranked bookmarks within each category. The result is a very nice directory.
I like products that take aggregated user data and do something interesting with it. In an indirect way, this reminds me of memeorandum, digg and other useful services that do the same. User date + algorithms (even simple stuff like this) can be incredibly useful.
I totally agree with you about liking products that take aggregated user data and do something interesting with it. That’s something we think/talk a lot about at Clipmarks. We’ve tossed around lots of ideas but just haven’t settled on one we’re very happy with…frustrating!!
I was having dinner with Matt Mullenweg at Chuys a couple of months ago and we were talking about how WordPress would be dumping categories and moving exclusively to tags. At first this frustrated me, but Matt was able to explain to my satisfaction that having both categories and tags is a mess. They are really mutually exclusive if used propertly. Using them together is very confusing as I can attest. It took me all summer to figure out how to move from folders/categories to exclusively tags. Big in Japan still has categories and tags, but this is as a result of iTunes – and having to play nice with it…
kinda boring…….tags in categories..now do something more interesting with the categories….i’m sticking with delicious for now.
Inform yourselves first. From Browsr’s Ts and Cs:
“Additionally, by placing your information, files, bookmarks, blogs and photos on BROWSR you hereby grant us, our affiliates, and our partners a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, nonexclusive, license to use, reproduce, create derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, transfer, transmit, distribute your information, files, blogs, files and photos.”
To begin with I want to make sure that everyone knows that I am a co-founder of browsr, so that you can weigh my comments in terms of their bias.
When I see comments regarding the difficulty in categorizing content, my first question is, “who is the categorizer”? Is it the one who feels the need to manage content? Or is it the one who uses it? For sure, I am leaving the gray areas out of this argument, i.e., I want to organize content because I want to use it.
There are two ways of “managing” content. One is through deductive means, i.e., establishing the categories and then shoving the content into those categories. The current library system is a good example of that. (And, BTW, has been pretty successful.)
The other method is an inductive method. This method allows categories to emerge and die as they are useful. In the latter, we would see “users” creating these categories and tagging to them. In our system, as categories become popular they move towards the top of the page. The most popular will be at the top.
Currently, browsr does not allow users to create categories (therefore, it actually employs a top-down or deductive system), but it is not the ultimate goal of the application. We needed to start somewhere so we decided to begin the process by suggesting categories. In our next version (coming out soon) we will be allowing users to create their own categories. Subsequently, users will be able blog and rank a category as they can do now with sites.
Therefore, browsr will be using an inductive method in allowing users to create their own categories. That is why we use the term “People Powered Directory”.
To begin with I want to make sure that everyone knows that I am a co-founder of browsr, so that you can weigh my comments in terms of their bias.
When I see comments regarding the difficulty in categorizing content, my first question is, “who is the categorizer”? Is it the one who feels the need to manage content? Or is it the one who uses it? I am leaving the gray areas out of this argument, i.e., I want to organize content because I want to use it.
There are two ways of “managing” content. One is through deductive means, i.e., establishing the categories and then shoving the content into those categories. The current library system is a good example of that. (And, BTW, has been pretty successful.) The other method is an inductive method. This method allows categories to emerge and die as they are useful. In the latter, we would see “users” creating these categories and tagging to them. In our system, as categories become popular they move towards the top of the page. The most popular will be at the top.
Currently, browsr does not allow users to create categories (it actually employs a top-down or deductive system), but it is not the ultimate goal of the application. We needed to start somewhere so we decided to begin the process by suggesting categories. In our next version (coming out soon) we will be allowing users to create their own categories. Subsequently, users will be able blog and rank a category as they can do now with sites.
Therefore, browsr will be using an inductive method in allowing users to create their own categories. That is why we use the term “People Powered Directory”.
This post is getting a lot of traffic. Where are people seeing it linked?
I’m getting a bit of a spelling Nazi – but usefullness isn’t the correct spelling. Usefulness is.
Anyone know if brosr is still up and running?
Getting a spelling Nazi myself. That would be “browsr.”
Thanks.
Getting a spelling Nazi myself. That would be “browsr.”