The Basics
Insights
Insights from people like you are the glue that holds this project together. Insights are like advanced comments - they're shorter, require a source, and specify whether they support, challenge or just add context to a piece of information. Their value comes from the idea of collective intelligence, and who better than Wikipedia to explain to us what this is:
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals."
More voices means more information, a wider range of perspectives, and a higher likelihood of accessing facts. While we consider insights our bread-and-butter, we also offer regular comments for more in-depth discussion and those times when all you can say is, "OMG!"
Ratings
Ratings are basically a public opinion survey, but combined with the best insights in the system, they become reflections of an informed community and are more likely to reveal objective reality than a survey. Each piece of information can be rated for either accuracy (for fact-based information) or agreement (for opinion-based information) and importance (for both).
These ratings help people separate fact from fiction and substance from fluff. They can also tell us things like who is the most reliable, who is the most offensive, or what issues the public is divided on.
Reputation
Reputation is generated for both members and speakers. Members can gain or lose reputation based on their behavior. For example, adding an insight that people find helpful will boost your reputation. Speakers' reputations are based on ratings of things they've said. Similar to Ebay seller ratings, reputation scores help point out who acts most reliably, and encourages a community based on social capital.
The Chart
Our chart plots all phrases from a single web page on one chart to be compared by accuracy, agreeability and importance. This gives readers a quick overview of what the informed public thinks about the quality of the content on the page.
The Insight App
The Insight App is Insight's secret sauce. The app can sit on almost any website and lets readers interact with the text content of the page. You can highlight, rate and respond to phrases in a similar way to how you might on our website, except that you engage directly with the content, rather than having to do all that copying and pasting. Learn more about the Insight App »
Glossary
- Phrase
- A small piece of information (text)
- Insight
- Similar to an advanced comment, which has a length limitation, a source requirement and is categorized as either supporting, challenging or adding context.
- Tag
- A keyword attached to a piece of information to help identify its content.
- Application (App)
- An application is...hard to explain!!
- Flag
- Flagging a piece of information indicates that something about the information is wrong. Flags are useful for spam, misquotes, outdated information, or info that was improperly categorized.
- Speaker
- Someone who is quoted in the system (ie: a phrase has been added and is attributed to them)
- Member
- Someone who has an account with Insight
Still have questions?
We're compiling ideas for a Frequently Asked Questions section, and we'd love your help! Let us know what you want to know more about by using the following form: