When you think of social networking, what names come to mind? For many people, the obvious answers include MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and LinkedIn. But while these may be the heavy-hitters in the Web 2.0 social networking space, they do not represent the only opportunities the Web has to offer.

Directories represent another type of social network that have endured since the days of Web 1.0. People-powered search through directories such as DMOZ has been around for more than a decade, and, despite vast improvements in algorithmic search in the time since their founding, they still play a very vital role in the search world.

But how can search, a seemingly solitary activity, be collaborative? There really are three interdependent social networks that combine to make the whole, and within each these networks, it is the collective knowledge and experience of the community that contributes to the success of the interaction. The three networks include:

1. The end user community
2. The editor community, and
3. The webmaster/site-submitter community

Let's take a closer look at how these work together using as an example a user's query for "eagles." Does the user want information on the West Coast Eagles, an Australian Rules football team? The rock band popular for hits such as Hotel California and Tequila Sunrise? Or does the user want to know more about birds of prey?

An algorithmic engine can make a good guess about the context, but it might not always get it right, especially in cases where the user intends a slightly more obscure result. It is in this type of ambiguous situation, however, where human-powered search can really shine.

If the user turns to a directory to find information about eagles, he or she will be engaging in a dialog of sorts with the editor community. The dialog is not direct, but rather, it is represented by the contextual meaning built into the hand-built category structure. Perhaps the user in our example is actually looking for information on the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, a service organization that operates throughout the and . He or she can simply bypass DMOZ's Sports, Science and Art categories and drill down directly through the Society category to find the desired results.

Behind the scenes, the second social network – the editor community – may have had a lot to do with this users' success. There is a "wisdom of crowds" element within the editor community in which the opinions of many people help to create a clearer directory structure and find better placements for hard to categorize sites than any one editor could do if working alone. Additionally, editors with specific knowledge of a geographic location or subject area may help others to place sites into the appropriate locations within the directory. For example, a new editor may have consulted the community for help to determine whether the Fraternal Order of the Eagles was better suited to be grouped with Clubs & Lodges or Organizations.

Through the final network, the webmasters/site-submitters, thousands of site suggestions are routed to the appropriate editors who sort them to determine if and where they should be included in the directory.

Hi Everyone,

Today, we offer one editor's perspective on how the DMOZ experience has helped improve the core skills needed to effectively perform the duties of a webmaster. Please give a warm welcome to Arindra!

Emily

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Hi, my name is Arindra and I have been invited to write a bit about my experience as a voluntary editor on the Open Directory Project. One of my earliest recollections of DMOZ was... ummm well, to be frank, I am not sure because I have seen the green-looking site and its Submit Site button on multiple occasions on portals and search results since early 2000's. I am into web design (initially by interest and passion, and later on by profession) and what always used to strike me about this site was its structured presentation and its enormity. What currently interests me most is the involvement it has managed to garner among various people over the years and the immense amount of collective knowledge on a variety of domains.

I believe a webmasters' duties should include:

• Looking after the design, development and administration of the website and its related tasks;
• Assignment and categorisation of the works;
• Amassing and distributing knowledge on a particular topic; and
• Ensuring adherence to certain standards and maintaining quality.

By doing this, we ensure that we are serving the expected visitor with the expected resource.

DMOZ has been a pioneering project since the early days of the web. It is based on the idea of quality over quantity. It is about creating quality resources through a selection process. As webmasters, we are often presented with multiple options - multiple clients, multiple quote requests, multiple technologies, multiple software packages and tools. Although it might not be directly analogous, I would say deeper evaluation of each site submission and knowledge of proper category selection requirements as an Editor has changed my approach to taking clients and projects and selecting software.

In my experience, I have come across very learned webmasters inside the ODP community who understand the finer points of web design and development that we often forget. I have also come across teenagers, housewives and retired people who have never been directly involved in website development but yet have their own opinions and observations which are also extremely useful to a web developer. Often, such insights are not otherwise available to individual designers who are working without a full-fledged testing and debugging team.

As a volunteer editor, I have gained the experience of seeing a variety of non-English websites, and have been able to accidentally learn those languages to a small extent. Since most of us aim to build websites for international clients, I believe that this type of experience can only help us.

Initially I had written about selection and observation and making a choice. That is only one of the benefits. In the ODP, what is even more helpful is that there is very little space for individual mistakes. The category I edit, or anyone else edits, is edited not by me alone but by hundreds of other volunteers over time. Even if I make a mistake, it may be picked up and corrected by others when they review it. While doing a website for a client or a programming, it often happens that I cannot find my own mistakes. We now have a system in which a website designed or programmed by one person is mandatory to be reviewed by another colleague. It is not important whether the reviewer is junior or senior level, so long as it is reviewed.

One of the first things I should actually have mentioned earlier is that it is important to give your English spelling and grammar a good brush-up. Framing sentences, using verbs and creating summaries can only help any good webmaster. Think of how much this could help with your project plans, blogs, profile pages, etc. Let me tell you, there are immense discussions and FAQs available which could easily help you become a English writing superhero.

As I said, creating a resource ("Category" in DMOZ terms) is only a small part of the editor's job. Maintaining becomes the major responsibility. As an editor, you will learn how to maintain, inspect and develop categories which could help you gain experience in later on developing your own web property.

One of the things which should easily attract a webmaster or web designer to become an editor is that if you are a regional branch editor, you would get an idea of how many local companies have websites and surely this would be an aid to finding more clients.

I could probably ramble more and more on the topic and hopefully I will again, but my blog editor expects me to deliver I would like to stop here and allow more to be said on other interesting subjects.

Best regards
Arindra

The ODP mentorship process helps to guide new editors as they learn the sometimes complex process of categorizing sites. A couple of weeks ago, we heard from editor Laigh who called out his role as a mentor as one of the highlights of his experience. Today, we hear from Snooks, one of Laigh's pupils, about the experience of being mentored.

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My name is Snooks and I have been an editor for about six months.

I remember the day that I got the email indicating I had been accepted. I was so excited! The first time i logged in, looking at my dashboard, I was pretty nervous. It has links to here, there and everywhere. It's actually quite daunting at first. I didn't know what to do!

I spent some time looking at the forums and then I posted in the New Editors Thread. I conversed with a few editors and felt sort of ok. I was still very nervous, still unsure on what I could or couldn't do. I had a look through the category and added the sites from my Editors application, adjusted a few things on other sites and all appeared in order.

There was a thread in the New Editors Section, titled "Editors' School - Mentorship Program." Reading the posts I could see that you applied to the school and an experienced editor would then be assigned to assist you. The editor would be your Mentor, a person that you could contact and ask for help, a person with whom to discuss all aspects of editing. At this stage I lacked confidence and this opportunity suited me perfectly. I applied for the school and within minutes, editor Laigh offered to be my mentor. I had seen many of Laighs' posts, he seemed likeable and I jumped at the chance.

The program involved 30 sites being placed in a category especially for you. In my own time, I was to edit the titles and descriptions, indicate where I would place the sites or, in the case of sites that were not suitable, mark them for deletion and explain why. The best part was that I couldn't hurt anything, I couldn't break DMOZ as there are measures in place so that if I made a mistake, the site couldn't be lost. My Mentor could always find or fix the mistake. This made me feel much better and it took the pressure off me.

Over the next week or so, I edited the sites, communicated with Laigh way too often and finally, the day came when we were both free and he was going to do the review of my sites.

I remember being at my computer in Sydney Australia, Laigh at his in Scotland.....we spoke on live chat and he said he was starting.........I was really, really nervous.

The first site came up:

(Site Name) the words beside it said "ready to go live."

This was followed by 10 or 15 more, at 1 minute intervals.

On the last one, he seemed to take eternity. I waited and waited and remember sending a message saying "Go on....Push the button! You know you want to!"

The message came Back "RAFL - ready to go live"

He detected one or two that needed minor changes such as a tweak on the description or a spelling mistake. But that was great news.......out of the 30 sites, 26 were live! The other 4 needed minor changes and then those sites would also go live.

I was delighted. I knew then that I really could edit. I really could evaluate and review a site and be trusted to ensure compliance with guidelines. This was confirmed when a Meta Editor granted me permissions to edit in a higher level category, that very same night. From my first cat with 25 sites, I now had a cat with 300 sites. I felt 10 feet tall!

I have now done 5600 edits and I have permission to edit in a category with thousands of sites. I know that without my Mentor and without the program, I would never have gained the confidence I now enjoy. Laigh and I still communicate often, I still ask him for advice and I highly value his opinions. The difference is that we now work together as fellow editors, rather than as Mentor and Student.

The Mentor Program instilled me with confidence. I do feel that without the program, I would not have advanced like I have. I may well have been too nervous to become involved enough, to feel comfy and actually enjoy editing. And I do! I really enjoy editing.

Thank you for letting me share this with you.