Listphilia

I can’t say one way or another if oysters experience terror. Though perhaps at the hand of a rabid oyster lover, an individual oyster might experience a form of oyster-terror. I can say, however, that oysters have terroir. Wikipedia tells us, in its quiet Wikipedia-esque-authority-esque way that terroir

“…was originally a French term in wine and coffee used to denote the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon them. It can be very loosely translated as “a sense of place” which is embodied in certain qualities, and the sum of the effects that the local environment has had on the manufacture of the product.”

The concept of terroir is used more often to discuss wines and coffee, but oysters have terroir, too. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of oysters eaten worldwide are one of three species. Their uniqueness comes from their terroir. Local salinity, nutrients, temperature and trace minerals all contribute to an oyster’s flavor, firmness, size and shape. Some terms that are employed to describe an individual oysters taste and texture include “tannic”, “buttery”, “sweet”, “salty”, “firm”, and “briny.” And all of these stem from terroir. And there you have it.

Oh, and if you’re interested in oysters, check out this list-in-progress: Oyster Varieties on Listphile. Time to finish blogging and - yes - track down a fresh oyster or twelve.

A little while ago, I started thinking about the world around me — the world of nature, of human accomplishments, history, people, places, products, philosophy, geology, biology — from the point of view of Lists. Kinda simple, now that I actually write it down this way. I find that making lists are a really useful way for me to learn. And I thought to myself, “Why not make a website that enables people to make lists together?” Of course, the specifics have changed and gotten more complex (as they always do), but my hope is that people see the big vision here: Listphile can be used to share and collaborate around knowledge. The Open Surf Atlas on Listphile is the first baby step at creating something on the Listphile platform that a) has lasting value to people who use it, and b) is built by a community of users in an open way.

I guess I should say at this point that my definition of a list is a pretty broad one. As a matter of fact, some people might accuse me of cloaking my wolf (a database) in a sheep’s clothing (a list). To be honest, it doesn’t really matter to me, as long as people see the potential of Listphile. I call these things “lists” because I think it’s a non-intimidating way to capture peoples’ interest. The fact that it’s a flexible tool with an open data model blah blah blah can be discovered later, by those who care to dig deeper, who want to customize, who are listing stuff that needs more organizational shaping, granularity. But I digress.

Anyways, I realized that there’s a lot to be garnered, and many fascinating connections to be made, when we use lists to help us organize and understand information. And if we take the power of the internet, mix in the coolness of open APIs and mashup culture, dip into the power of the participatory web, and marry it with this list concept, we can have something that’s pretty cool and useful. That’s how Listphile was born.

My guiding principle in creating this site, this tool, has been my curiosity. I really enjoy using Listphile, as evidenced by my list-interest in surf spots, oysters, Frank Gehry, Yoda (and lots more) and I really hope that other people will be struck by the same curiosity, and the same desire to contribute, to make their mark, to learn, and to look at their reality, at least for a short time, within the framework of a list.

Without further ado, we humbly offer up to you as the first version of our beta product. Please send us feedback or get in touch with us if you have something to say or you’d like to get to know us. Oh, and by the way, “us” is three guys working out of our respective garages and cafes