Humarithm: why data without people is not enough

And how algorithms lost the Content Curation battle

Guillaume Decugis Co-Founder & CEO – Scoop.it

@gdecugis

Hi, my name is Guillaume. I’m an Engineer and I like data too.

And also now an Entrepreneur (Musiwave, Scoop.it)

We Engineers love algorithms.

In 1993, I built a neural network algorithm…

…to predict stock market

performance

This is where I’d be if it had worked

People produce a lot of data

And yes, algorithm can filter/compute data.

But smart systems use people to correct data.

And people like to do it.

Most people don’t understand algorithms.

But they can understand people who understand data.

Data doesn’t distribute itself.

People do.

The Content Curation problem

I’m talking to

you!

I’m looking for you!

Web Content in 1995. Curated.

Web Content in 1997. Algorithmed.

The Search for the perfect Content Algorithm

“Curation starts when Search stops working” (Clay Shirky)

The Filter Bubble (Eli Pariser)

7 things that content personalization algorithm do poorly

• Anticipation• Risk Taking• Big Picture• Pairing• Social Importance• Mind-blowingness• Trust

Eli Pariser, 2011

Man or Machine?

Humarithm“The Algorithm + the Crowd are Not Enough” Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz.

We need humans data editors/curators.

People

Data

Algorithm

Editors/Curator

s

Start from the API. Let Human Curate.The Scoop.it Example.

When it comes to technology, we all want this.

So please don’t build this.

Thank you!

Guillaume Decugis@gdecugis

Author: Franz Steiner