Serendipity....for real....

I got to thinking about the way we use the word 'serendipity' in relation to the Web (see previous post). If you put 'define: serendipity' into Google, the first of a number of defintions it offers is this: "The art of finding something by looking for something else." The use of the word 'art' is interesting there! Another definitions starts: "Serendipity is finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely." I like these two attempts to define the word, and I believe they are better than the way in which we sometimes use 'serendipity' to describe the times when we simply meander aimlessly through cyberspace hoping to find something interesting or useful, following multiple links at random to see where they take us. This brings its own pleasures and its own rewards but is not really serendipity, in my view. Some have tried to gather examples of serendipity online but they all get back a mixture of both interpretations above - it would be interesting to gather some examples of 'real' serendipity, where people have come upon something interesting and coincidental while doing something else altogether.

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© John Connell
The views expressed in this weblog are entirely my own and are not intended to reflect the views of any other individuals or organizations. All sources will be fully acknowledged.