Research Notes - Background and Purpose

I began thinking about Research Notes almost 15 years ago. The project has been started and stopped several times. There are three key reasons for developing this project now.

1. Quality Content: Finding quality information on the internet takes too long.There are too many sites on the internet echoing other sites. Original content is difficult to find. Most articles are incomplete or contain misleading information.

2. Storage & Retrieval of Links & Content: Keeping links and past as well as current information handy is too difficult. If I change machines or devices then the content is no longer available or easily accessible.

3. Learning: A purpose of using the internet is to read great articles, discover great ideas, and to discuss these ideas. An additional purpose is to share this information with others.

Research notes is a bridge between search engines, bookmarking sites, aggregator sites, RSS feeds, lists on twitter, and reading social networking sites. Research notes is a simple way to organize published content for finding quality information. Research notes is an efficient means to locate past articles, find new articles, and organize topics to find trends.

Improving Quality of Articles

More important, research notes is a great way to enhance writing of new articles. Writing a quality article is a challenge.

The Extremist Method

There was a point in my life that writing was just a matter of tossing down some word salad, intentionally adding errors, writing with extreme views, and being very negative about a new product. This style of sensationalist publishing garnered eye-balls. My sister and I used to debate that I could easily gather thousands of viewers with a few simple articles. Sensationalism works – to a point. The reality is that what was gained in traffic was lost in reputation.

Authoritative Site

While building Tux Reports Network, I’ve been flaky. Part of me tries to keep the sensationalism side of writing. Another part recognizes the need for sites of authority. Not everyone enjoys reading Huffington Post. Not everyone in technology appreciates writers who tear down product that they’ve bought – and quickly returned. Not everyone appreciates the negativity.

The Top Ten List

The internet is filled with quick articles linking to products, usually containing an image and a single paragraph about why the product is good or bad. The top ten list has been stretched by some authors into the top one hundred … or shortened to the top five. Regardless, the idea is that the author has some knowledge as to why these are the best plugins, best tablets, best widgets, etc. These types of posts are really just link-n-comment posts published in a list method.

Research notes is a way to transform the Tux Reports Network into a site of authority. The notes will be used to help organize articles so readers have as much information as possible. We will no longer be publishing short snippets, linking to a site, adding an opinion, and leaving it for others to agree or disagree. Tux Reports Network articles will attempt to transcend the sensational side of the internet and move toward objectivity. The challenge is unnerving but worth the effort.

What is Already Available

A few visitors have asked why I don’t just use the tools already available. After all, there is a plethora of ways to already gather information. Consider what is available and the flaws of using them. Something better must be built.

Bookmarking

The earliest method of finding information was to create a list of sites. The early 90s was filled with sites which simply linked to other sites. Yahoo was initially a site grouping other sites. It was easy to find ‘big lists’ of sites because an individual would site and add pages of links. Delicious grew because people were eager to share lists of links.

Search Engines

The growth and importance of search engines grew in the late 90s. Google’s approach is fine but they filter results. Google news is almost exclusively large sites. The little sites are not linked. They may also be buried in the Google search results. Bing, Yahoo, Duck-duck-go, and other search engines are basically using the same approach: large sites first. The philosophy is that numerous links equates to authority.

Crowd Sourced

Digg is probably the most famous link submission style source for smaller sites. Users would submit sites, rate them, and comment on the content. Many clones have been successful getting people to submit sites (Reddit is the first to come to mind)

RSS Feeds and Readers

RSS is a great way for publishers to make their content available. Many people gathered good lists of RSS sources. I never compiled a good list of RSS Feeds. I also changed readers so often that valuable sites and information would lost.

Aggregators

Memeorandum was the first site I ever visited which organized RSS feeds from select sources and displayed them in a unique way. TechMeme (from the same creator as Memeorandum) does a great job for technology sites writing about Apple, however, tablets are rarely discussed. The sites linked are usually large sites already garnering a large crowd. CNN Trends borrowed the idea and migrated to other categories. Popurls, SearchTempest, Padmedia are also available for different topics.

The Little Guys

Research notes is my way of compiling notes from sites not regularly found on TechMeme (technology), CNN trends, or other aggregation sites (Reddit, Digg). The top aggregator sites simply link to sister publication or large sites. The small sites, the niche sites, and the startups are rarely linked or read. Research notes seeks to find the best information, regardless of the author.

What stage of development is Research Notes?

Research notes is in a late alpha stage. Caspio was used to build a proof-of-concept database and pages. This worked better than expected. Unfortunately the cost was prohibitive. Therefore, a developer has now moved this information into a MySQL database so that the information is now stored on our servers. The same developer is working on the scripts for adding articles via RSS feeds as well as reports.

Here is a preview:

What is next?

There is a long list of items to complete before going to a public beta. Here is the short list.

CSS
RSS Feeds
Change keyword search to text, autocomplete
Reports
Integration with Site (header, footer, authentication)

Will you be able to use it?

Yes. The whole point of this project is to make quality information available to everyone. When Research Notes is done, you will be able to search, organize, and find valuable links to a diverse set of topics.

I hope you find this little project exciting. Let me know your thoughts, expectations, concerns, or ideas to enhance the project.

Research Notes – Background and Purpose