AttentionTrust Update

Yesterday I posted a link to AttentionTrust, expressing my confusion as to what it was all about.

I'd like to thank Ed Batista, Executive Director of AttentionTrust, for this detailed explanation.

Hey there,

I'm Ed Batista, Executive Director of AttentionTrust. I'm sorry our site's not as clear as it could be--we're just about to begin a redesign, but let me try to clear things up a little here.

Every time you pay attention to something, data is created in the form of page views, tags, purchase histories, etc. There are hundreds of different forms this data can take, but in general we could think of it as "attention data."

This data is incredibly valuable--in fact, in an information-based economy, attention is the primary determinant of value. It's also incredibly useful--attention data could be used to power any number of helpful services, such as discovery and recommendation tools personalized to fit your interests, so that articles, podcasts, videos, commercial offers, etc., all of which are highly relevant and interesting to you, are delivered to your browser or your inbox.

However, most of the attention data you generate disappears into siloed corporate databases that you can't access. But what if you could record your own attention data? You could share it with a third party that would provide you with these services in return, or enable you to exchange your data with friends, family or colleagues. You'd be an active participant in the "attention economy," not just a passive source of data that others are taking advantage of.

AttentionTrust works to educate people about attention data, to empower people to make use of their own data (via our Attention Recorder, an open source Firefox extension that allows users to capture and store aspects of their browsing history), and promote the principle that all of us should be able to exert control over the data that we create. Our attention data is OURS, and we have the right to own, store, move, and exchange it as we see fit.

This may sound a little out there, but try running a search on "attention data" or "attention economy"--you'll see that there's a lot of interest in these topics, and the services I've described above will be here sooner rather than later.

I hope this helps shed a little light on things. Thanks--

Ed Batista

I'm afraid this is WAY over my head.