Blank (Media) Slate

Over the past year I’ve been focused on designing a system for effectively identifying media content based on personal interests. Throughout multiple discussions over that time, I’ve often stressed the need to embrace (rather than eradicate) the value of serendipity in results. Two comments in the past week have really driven that point home and given this idea a voice I find useful.

The first comes from our executive leadership in recasting the system in terms of a “Discovery Platform.” While it might seem to be a minor semantic variance, the term “discovery” fits nicely within our context. We’ve taken great pains to distance ourselves from the traditional and, IMHO, limiting tradition of finding and delivering the “perfect result” within the specified candidate pool. Rather, I’ve generally used the term “serendipity” to evoke the experiential feeling we hope to provide. I still like the feel of the term, though it’s heavy connotation of “chance” puts it second to a more directed term like “discovery”, and it still embraces the concept of finding hitherto “unknown” matches for your interests.

The second comment came in meetings with a potential product developer who said, “Effective recommendations must be relevant, but not predictable.” It’s possible this is a well-trodden phrase, but it resonated with our solidifying vision around discovery. After all, it’s easy to recommend songs by the same artist you already like (or following other paths similarly codified), it takes something more to uncover less obvious connections to your interests. Further, it’s a lot more gratifying (like the punch line of a good joke) when you’re pleasantly surprised by the result.

As a side note, a common refrain around the office has been, “You don’t discover pocket lint.” I’m still not entirely sure I grok the true meaning from this, but it definitely pops an amusing image in your mind’s eye.