What the heck is a ThoughtElf anyway?

The definition of ThoughtElf has been evolving over the past few months.

It started out as a random musing about technologies to come with advances in Enterprise 2.0, Web 3.0 and within Social Media. I’d imagined this wonderous application that would follow me around all day to learn HOW I think and look at things in context, then work its magic to surface like things in kind for me. An efficient little research assistant.

Research is very important to me as I am a neophyte in many fields of study – working my way up to Demi-Goddess status.

After some casual discussion with KM folks like Dr. John Bordeaux and @Ridgeway, it became readily obvious that such an automated application might rob me of the richness of serendipitous discovery.  With a bit of reflection, I realized that many of the ideas, people and visions I encounter as I trip around the web have already been exposed to my ThoughtElf. I just hadn’t fully grokked it well enough to define until recently.

The web and social media channels I use are brilliant, mischievous, whimsical, magically powered, and sometimes spiteful helpers that feed my insatiable curiosity; readily leading me off on happenstance tangents exploring new ideas, innovations,  examples of creativity, technologies and performing experiments.

Enter the ThoughtElf.  Like Flickr and their infamous Magic Donkey that determines interestingness, my inner ThoughtElf applies an algorithm to all I see, read, do or hear.  I get a mental poke that prods me to explore the idea further when the ThoughtElf calculates that something will  hold my attention long enough to educate, tinker with or stimulate new thoughts.

My own personal ThoughtElf ‘interestingness’ algorithm draws me towards thought-leaders, mentors and experts to learn from. The little pixie also seems to have the formula down-pat for discovering people online that I would probably enjoy meeting in real-life. The curious, the creative, the funny souls, who capture and hold my attention.

I’ll be sharing posts about ideas, people, technologies and questions as the ThoughtElf  commands me to sit up and take notice, or test drive notions.

Do you have your own method of calculating ‘interestingness’?