Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The problem with crowdsourced content

We have whole lot of sites featuring reviews written by their readers on pretty much all topics. Of these, at least the front runners attract large traffic volumes, have a devoted user base, and are, I assume, making money. However, I want to discuss what I think is wrong with them.

The problem is the method of generating content. All these sites rely on a bevy of users to come write reviews on the products/service that the site focuses on and that they have used/experienced. This can be restaurant, book, travel, gadgets, or whatever else. Via friendly UIs, facilitated social media interaction etc., users are encouraged to contribute data for each others benefit. This strategy is very effective in generating large amounts of data. However, it is very bad at generating cohesive data.

In general, I have three somewhat interconnected problems with this:
  1. Data is of poor quality – Since the website wants readers to submit reviews, it can rarely hold them accountable to the quality of their writing. The aim is to lower the barrier to writing and social media sharing. Get him to write. No matter he writes, get him to write. To be fair, most of the reputed website will intervene if you write inflammatory or profane material, but apart from that, pretty much anything goes. As a direct consequence, the quality of review in terms of both the content (what is written) and the form (how it is written) goes down. Most people write unbalanced reviews, either giving full marks and endless praise or griping about a very bad experience.This can be avoided to some extent by making sincere efforts at moderating and community building (StackOverflow is a great example), but none of the major commercial websites seem to be doing so.
  2. There is just too much data – This is the explicit result of successfully inducing readers to submit content to a site. Since anyone can submit anything, the data volumes are large, and it becomes well-nigh impossible to find information. This is what I like to call the Problem of 500 reviews. What I mean by that is that on any successful reviews site, today you can find 500 reviews for pretty much every single item. Too much data is not much better than no data. The best this deluge of disjointed reader inputs can give us is a general sense of how people like something. As an experiment, choose any famous book about which you know nothing, and try to find out about the book using only GoodReads reviews. I am fairly regular on the site, but I mostly do it for the bragging rights, and to let my friends know what I am up to.
  3. Data is without structure – I totally agree that a successful travel site of the kind that we are talking about will have all data about some destination. But how do we find this data? Since it is broken up across a large number of unconnected reviews, it is very difficult to present the information in a coherent, intuitive manner. It is now left to the reader to sift through the data that each reviewer has provided and collate the data he needs (when to get there, how to get there etc.)
The crowdsourced content model is like a group discussion where everyone is talking at the same time. There is no anchor or reference around which a discussion can be built.

IMO, a far better alternative is to have an informed member write one review, and then use that to gather all sorts of varied and personalized experiences regarding the topic of discussion. It may seem so up front, but such a model (critic-driven model, if you will) is not about classroom style information broadcast. The Expert has not spoken. It is about providing a structured core, the basic information, and then inviting the readers to extend that into a wider body of information. If you want people to spend time and effort sharing their opinion, it is only fair that you offer them something in return.

Monday, August 27, 2012

A sample Ladakh itinerary and a vote of thanks

So yours truly went to Leh two weeks ago. It was, as expected, a mind-blastingly awesome experience.

It is not the most routine of trips, so I pulled up my Google socks and got down to business. Although data is widely available on each individual destination in Leh, I found difficult to plan an itinerary since no one was very clear how long each place would take (I found Nubra Valley estimates from "Dont even bother going there" to "It will definitely take 4 days"). The tour operators will certainly make one for you, but the geeks (and the jock for that matter) _has_ to work it out for himself, right?

I eventually had to call up friends who had been there to get their itineraries. Not cool. I don't want to be real life social when I can be online social. So to save all you worthies this trouble, here is my itinerary:
Day 1
Arrive Leh and overnight Stay. Check out Leh Palace and Shanti Stupa. Chill in random cafes.
 
Day 2
Leh-Like Monastery - Gurudwaara Pathhar Sahib - Lamayuru Monastery-Ule :  
You can actually visit Alchi the same day and come back if you rush somewhat, but why bother? The nice Ule resorts are built overlooking the river. Ergo, overnight stay.
 
Day 3
Ule-Alchi-Leh : Alchi monastery is nice and old. You can visit Basgo Palace on the way back, but it is really just a pile of mud and stone now and not worth the climb. Also see Hall of Fame - an army memorial/museum for our high altitude warriors. Respect.
  
Day 4
Leh to Nubra Valley - The drive is awesome. Bragging rights are earned by clicking pics at Khardungla (the highest motorable pass in the world at 5600-ish metres). Then bactrian camel ride at Diskit. It's  beautiful here and a hard ride back, so stay overnight.
Day 5
Drive back to Leh. Relax.
 
Day 6
Leh - Chang La - Pangong Lake : Changla is the third highest motorable pass in the world (14500 ft. Reach camp around lunchtime. Sit on the banks of the beautiful lake. It's frikking cold and windy.
 
Day 7
Pangong Lake - Leh. Enroute visit Hemis, Thikse Monasteries and Shey Palace.
 
Day 8
Go home
 
Everything was done at a mellow pace, no rushing. Spending less time than this would not be doing justice to them IMO. Also, this is a fairly touristy plan, since this was my first time.

For all the research, we still booked a packaged tour (I'll hulk out the next time, I promise) via Escapades India. That almost got effed up due to the recent flash floods. We were stuck in Manali for 2 days, and missed the first two days of our itinerary. But the folks over at Escapades were EXTREMELY helpful, stayed in touch constantly to find out if we were doing okay. I called the unputdownable Mr. Parag more times than I called my family and he just might have done the same! A mail of theirs said "On adventure trips, you want to worry more about the reliability of your operator rather than what he is charging you" (paraphrased). Parag and Co. certainly came through on that front.

We extended our trip by two days to compensate for the things we had missed, and Escapades arranged it for no extra charge. Read that again. Slowly. No extra charge.

So all in all I strongly recommend anyone looking for the arranged travel option to go to Leh (or elsewhere, but I'm not very sure of  that) to get in touch with Escapades India.