Where does the term "serendipity" come from? What is the current
discussion on this term vs. the "attention economy"?

Hi Conni, 

I believe what is going on with your terms is that they've been
"Covey-ized" before you've heard them, (Stephen Covey, author of the
Seven Habits of Highly Successful People...where all "business speak"
flows from these days:  "Thinking outside the box", "verbing nouns",
“I’m tasking you with taking out the garbage,”etc...)  Serendipity is
simply as described by Paul_b_18 in his comment below: happy or
beneficial development of events.  Of course in the business world,
that means that, oh joy of joys! someone has bought something.  This
serendipitous purchase, however, had many things that actually
triggered the event, and it is the job of the ad-man, or the follower
of Mr. Covey, to name these events.

So, we have serendipity, which means a happy happenstance.  Someone
saw something they wanted to buy, and so they bought it.  Maybe it was
an impulse buy in line at the grocer's, maybe it was that tennis
bracelet in the window at Tiffany's.  However, there just wasn't
enough attention, on the consumer's part, directed toward making these
purchases, and so there appears to be a void left in the vacuum of
advertising that MUST FILL ALL OF OUR LIVES EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY,
Amen. ;-)  Attention economy refers to our dwindling attention spans
and the fight for advertising to get its share of that part of our
brains.  Serendipity can be responsible for attracting only a very few
of our dwindling attention minutes, but it can play an important part.

In short, what is being discussed is the economics of our attention
spans.  How long do our eyes hold the page, screen, whatever, and what
information do they absorb.  It's really that simple:  They are
trying, and apparently succeeding, in commodifying our attention
spans.

Below is a quote dealing with this issue from InfoToday 2001.  This
conference looked at new technology, ideas, and trends in the
information industry.
by Paula J. Hane
_______________________________
David Snowden, director of IBM's Institute for Knowledge Management,
offered an entertaining look at how complexity theory can be tapped to
foster innovation and improve the flow of knowledge within
organizations. In a complex system like an organization or
corporation, many elements interact in a constantly changing and fluid
way, and thus must be managed differently from a system in which all
relationships are known and defined. Informal associations and
serendipity can help new patterns to emerge. He gave some fascinating
examples of how introducing games with metaphors can allow people and
organizations to see their own problems in new ways.

Tom Davenport, director for strategic change at Accenture, focused his
keynote remarks on the most valuable—and scarcest—resource for workers
in the New Economy: attention. He noted that, increasingly, if you
want people's attention, you have to offer them something valuable for
it. In corporations, leaders are beginning to use some
attention-conscious KM technologies (including structuring,
monitoring, and filtering) to keep their employees focused on crucial
knowledge-based tasks. Davenport is the author of the forthcoming
book, The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of
Business.

SEARCH STRATEGY:
serendipity attention economy
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=serendipity+attention+economy

Thanks for a fun question to answer, and I hope that my answer is what
you were looking for.  Before rating it, feel free to request a
clarification, and I'll be happy to clarify anything you wish.

Thanks!
Kutsavi

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Request for Answer Clarification by conni-ga on 23 Dec 2002 09:57 PST

Kutsavi, thanks for your answer. I have a further question: How
introduced the term "serendipity" into the business language. Was it
Stephen Covey?

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Clarification of Answer by kutsavi-ga on 23 Dec 2002 11:51 PST

Wow, that's a good question, 

My guess is that it was not Covey but rather that someone said it, and
like many terms, just became assumed into our modern business jargon. 
I doubt that you could find a first-use of the word.

But, that *is* another question.  What I've done is to write to the
hosts of a radio show on my local Public Broadcasting station whose
show, called A Way With Words, deals with the origins and usage of
words in the English language.  I asked them about the usage of the
word "serendipity" in business, and whether they might know the
origin.  If they pass anything along to me, I'll pass it along to you
here.

Kutsavi

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Request for Answer Clarification by conni-ga on 24 Dec 2002 08:40 PST

Hi Kutsavi, thanks a lot for your answer. In which part of the world
are you located?

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Clarification of Answer by kutsavi-ga on 24 Dec 2002 14:57 PST

Conni,

We as Google researchers aren't allowed to let "you guys" know any
personal stuff about us, but as far as in the "world", well shoot, I
don't think that anyone would have any problem with me stating that
I'm in Southern California.

Yup, I'm in the forefront of where all the jargon and such starts. 
I'm at ground zero for that stuff.

Hope you have a great holiday season!

Kutsavi

Very good and interesting information on the research topic!

Hi,

The term serendipity has the following origin:

"*SERENDIPITY [noun] the occurrence and development of events by
chance in a happy or beneficial way: a fortunate stroke of
serendipity. -- Origin 1754: coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by
'The Three Princes of Serendip', the title of a fairy tale in which
the heroes ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity,
of things they were not in quest of'."
The World Technology Network
http://www.wtn.net/new/index.html

Regards,
paul_b_18-ga