Re-Organizing the World’s Information: Why we need more Boutique Curation and Increased Productivity

Re-Organizing the World’s Information: Why we need more Boutique Curation and Increased Productivity

In today's digital age, information is abundant. We have access to an overwhelming amount of data at our fingertips. However, with this abundance comes a challenge - how do we find the signal amongst the noise? The current state of information platforms, with their irrelevant filters, ad-based business models, and unconstrained supply, has made it increasingly difficult for consumers to discover trustworthy information.

While the protection of privacy has been touted as a reason to move away from platforms like Google, it is not a compelling enough factor for most people. The idea of controlling one's data may not be seen as a selling point, especially if it requires paying for something that has been traditionally free. However, in a world where information is infinite, it is no longer enough to simply organize it. What is needed is the organization of trustworthy information.

What began as a well-intentioned effort to organize the world's information has turned into a business focused on monetizing clicks to support advertisers. The search experience for users has taken a backseat to the prioritization of advertisers. Ethical design choices have been compromised, resulting in a significant trust gap. Curation has been too focused on the content itself, rather than the structure. There is an opportunity to move curated content feeds away from their never-ending-now orientation and towards more goal-oriented interfaces.

Vertical search aggregators work well when you know exactly what you want. However, most users don't start with a clear idea in mind. This presents an opportunity to help overwhelmed consumers with better discovery and curation along the funnel. Currently, there is a lack of resources devoted to filtering, organizing, curating, and indexing the firehose of information being created. Curation sites often fall into a trap of scaling with crowdsourcing, resulting in a decline in the quality of recommendations. Vertical search aggregators like Yelp then offer more utility.

The ad-driven model of these platforms creates a competition for attention between advertisers and content producers, leading to a marketing blog-like experience. Subscriptions are not a panacea, especially when the use cases are infrequent. However, nascent token-based business models show promise by giving ownership to stakeholders and allowing subscribers to benefit from future upside.

In the realm of creativity, productivity is key. Adolphe Quetelet observed the tight link between personal productivity and creative success nearly two centuries ago. Dean Simonton's analysis suggests that each piece of work produced by a creative individual has roughly equal odds of world-breaking impact. The more work you produce, the greater your chances of creative success.

Being at the frontier of knowledge is crucial for contributing something new. While this may be more applicable in academia, the notion of contributing to others even if you're not at the frontier holds true, especially if the viewer is not at the edge yet. Curation is a unique process that allows you to contribute to others while reaching for the frontier.

Idea generation and public reception are stochastic processes. Once you reach a threshold of creative output, further advances have a significant random component. This may be due to the trial-and-error process or the unpredictability of public taste. Price's Law captures this relationship, estimating that half of the research in a given discipline will be produced by the square root of the number of researchers.

In various pursuits, creativity is productivity. The more swings you take, the more hits you will have. The key to creative success lies in being productive and consistently producing work.

In conclusion, as the world's information continues to expand, the need for boutique curation and increased productivity becomes evident. It is no longer enough to simply organize information; it is essential to organize trustworthy information. Platforms that prioritize advertisers over user experience create trust gaps and ethical concerns. Moving towards goal-oriented interfaces and better discovery and curation processes can help overwhelmed consumers find the content they want on their terms. Additionally, increasing productivity is crucial for creative success, as each piece of work produced has equal odds of making a significant impact. Being at the frontier of knowledge and taking more swings will lead to more hits. Embracing these principles can lead to a more organized and productive digital landscape.

Actionable advice:

1. Seek out boutique curation platforms that prioritize user experience and trustworthy information.
2. Embrace goal-oriented interfaces that help you discover content on your terms.
3. Focus on increasing your productivity by consistently producing work and staying at the frontier of knowledge in your field.