Cutting through noise for high signal content

There’s a term that was coined in 2022 that I recently came across.

Enshittification.

You might have heard it by now, it comes from well known author, Cory Doctorow.

In this newsletter I’m going to dive into this topic a bit (sounds gross, doesn’t it?) - and look at why we need to be aware of it and what we can do to de-enshittify some of the most important areas in our lives.

Ok, What’s Enshittification?

Let’s start with the source and see what Cory has to say:

“It’s my theory explaining how the internet was colonised by platforms, why all those platforms are degrading so quickly and thoroughly, why it matters and what we can do about it. We’re all living through a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit."

Makes sense, at least to me.

So what does this have to do with productivity?

A lot. 

These same platforms control a lot of online publishing.

They show up in search results like Google and Bing.

And this has to do with an area that I believe is very important.

How do we get high quality information?

How we separate the signal from the noise.

Recommended

How Do We Separate The Signal From The Noise?

Good question.

One of the ways is through using tools like Readwise, which let’s me save articles for reading later. This lets me curate my own sources and over time if I read articles by a source I may add them via a newsletter or RSS feed.

I’m curating my sources.

Sometimes I’ll get a recommendation from a friend, reader, or acquaintance.

This of course isn’t as strong as a signal as finding it on my own, but it’s still a decent way to find high signal information.

Last but not least is to find aggregators that help you uncover more information that is high signal.

This could be a newsletter like this one, a website like Cory Doctorow’s “old school” link blog (daily links with no tracking), or something else.

Those are 3 well known ways to find high signal content out there in the wilds.

It’s manual.

It’s not perfect.

And it takes time and attention.

I don’t think that it should be automatic, automated, or AI based (completely)…but I’m not opposed to speeding up the process.

It’s an area I think about a lot and haven’t yet found a silver bullet - and may never find one (or several).

I do plan to keep looking at this from multiple angles and sharing what I find.

If you’ve got a great way for finding high signal content let me know - would love to share it (with credit) and try using it myself.

Extra Extra

• Podwise - interesting tool I came across that does summarization, mind mapping, and note taking for podcasts. More later…

• Better book reading by looking for counter arguments. Presented in an academic viewpoint but going to share more on this for everyday reading soon.

That’s all for today, stay productive!