Stigmergic Web

Here’s today’s daily synchronicity, initiated by reading D’Arcy Norman’s post on the preponderance of podcast directories:

So, now that the iTunes Podcast Directory is out, it seems like there are waaaay too many podcast directories out there (iPodder.org, Podcasting.com, Podcast.net, PodcastDirectory.com, PodcastAlley.com, Podcasting News Directory, iPodderX, Podcast411 Directory, and many, many, many more).

In my comment to his post, I noted that there is an advantage in having a multiplicity of podcast directories, which is that the increase in number of directories creates a possibility of the establishment of some sort of social network to act as a reference or recommendation system for podcasts.

Just moments ago, I came across Chris Anderson’s posting in The Long Tail, positing that there can be two kinds of filters in a media environment. (The Long Tail: “Pre-filters” vs. “Post-filters”). Pre-filters operate before things get to market, while post-filters operate after things are on the market. Blogs, playlists, and Google are all good examples of post-filters, and they can be contrasted with their pre-filter equivalents of editors, A & R departments, and Britannica.

The difference between these two kinds of filters has to do, in my understanding, with scarcity. If the commodity described in the filter or the filter itself is rare, it will be a pre-filter. Someone of special training provides the filtering for us – think of movie reviews done by film critics who have studied film studies and can explain the virtue of a film to us. In this case, both the film and the knowledge of the film critic represent scarcity. When movies are a common commodity, costing less than $10, and almost everyone has been able to watch many films multiple times, it makes know sense to appoint someone to describe the film to us – we are capable of doing so ourselves.

Our scarcest resource now, however, would be time. I might be physically capable of watching Groundhog Day a dozen times and arriving at conclusions about the Buddhist elements in the film (go look – they’re there), but I don’t have time to do so (too busy blogging, for one thing). Luckily for me, there are enough other people who have the time to do so. Likewise, there are enough other people who are spending lots of time listening to podcasts and creating podcast directories for me, and based on my trust relationship with these people, I will be able to compute a pretty good list of podcasts that I should like. So, in response, at long last, to D’Arcy’s query “Is the ipodder.org directory still relevant?”, I would say it is more relevant than ever. It is no longer, however, authoritative, but that is to be celebrated, not regretted.