In search of knowledge

I have really enjoyed our recent discussions on ideas such as DesperateForMoney.com, BrokeStudent.com, and TheScreenplayExperiment.com. This style of back and forth feedback and critique seems to be doing a good job at shaking out important insights.

My recent thought, however, is that we need, at this early stage, to balance discussions of our ideas with more systematic investigation of existing ideas. By studying what is out there and what has worked, I think we will arm ourselves with a lot more creative ammo to motivate our own, even better ideas. In particular, I might suggest the following three foci for the near future:

1) Identification, on this blog, of good sources to monitor or discover existing ODIs and related phenomenon. For example, I have been trolling iFilm.com recently to sniff out viral videos that are breaking out.

2) Locate and post about any and all ODIs. Once an ODI has been posted about, we can start to discuss its merits. Try to identify what makes it hookey.

3) Open up lines of communication with ODI originators. For example, what if one of us sent an e-mail to the founder of milliondollarhomepage.com, and explained, honestly, that you are part of a small group that is intriguiged by web phenomenons, and was wondering if he would mind talking with one of us (or answering e-mail questions) about his experience. We could then get an insider scoop on how he came up with the idea, what the initial iterations were like, what caused the tipping point, etc.

Combined, these three directions might quickly produce a solid wealth of creative inspiration for our idea construction.

Thoughts?