You know what would be a fantastic service if it were to exist?
There are so many things I’d love to learn more about, things I want to try. Unfortunately, I often find that I simply don’t know anyone involved in whatever it might be, at least not personally. Sure there are forums on the net for just about everything one can imagine, but sometimes even finding that can be a challenge.
The idea
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a centralized place to find a mentor, regardless of subject? Essentially a place for people who are enthusiastic about – insert subject here – to make themselves available to others starting out? I’ve seen various sites offering this sort of thing, but most are aligned with a specific industry or group and frankly, if you’ve found such a site, you’ve probably already found other relevant resources.
Background
I got this idea from a recent Email i received from a blind gentleman interested in coin collecting. his question to me was whether I knew of any other blind coin collectors as he had questions regarding logistics and such. Not only do I not know of other blind coin collectors, but, well, I don’t know any at all. Knowing nothing about coin collecting, I don’t even know where to suggest he start other than searching Google and hoping for the best. This sort of thing occurred quite frequently in my former life as an assistive technology instructor; a client would often show an interest in something or other and ask if I could connect them with someone with that same interest. I “social network” quite a bit and so know many people doing many things, but certainly I don’t have all subjects covered and honestly I’m glad I don’t. :) Still, knowing there are people out there who are passionate about whatever their interest happens to be, it strikes me that this would be a really neat resource. All that being said, does anyone know if such a resource already exists? If it does, I want to share it with the world as I feel it could benefit many. If not, how do we create it?