✪ AI Perfect Antidote - #42
New editorial focus and format experiment. Great examples of curated newsletters. Thoughts on curation.
In this new issue of TRUST-able I experiment with a new editorial format.
I am saturated by the amount of tactical and strategic growth advice around me.
My interest is to inspire insightful value creation by unearthing and showcasing great curation work.
Everyone is telling everyone else what to do to achieve success.
You’re never gonna get anywhere unless… you do this
What you’re doing can’t work, here’s why
Here’s the magic formula… trust me, I know the solution
But I am here with a different set of goals:
building greater visibility by building great trust and credibility
facilitating non-algorithmic, peer-recommended, trusted content discovery
extending and nurturing the online open conversations around the topics and issues that matter to us
learning in greater depth about the things we care about
filtering out noise, marketing-driven content, AI shallowness
discovering unusual and fascinating alternative editorial formats
realizing how great value can be generated from existing content
Overall it’s an opportunity for learning without placing myself in the expert seat.
For looking beyond the familiar shores.
May these first set of examples and observations, find a spark inside you.
A realization that in the work of searching, unearthing and connecting dots there’s often a lot more value than in trying to write something new.
I hope you will enjoy it.
Robin Good
In this issue:
1) Curation Insights
How To Combat Algos
AI Antidote
Curation as a Dynamic Meaning-Maker
The Untold Curation Truth
2) Examples of Great Curated Newsletters (3)
Curation Insights
Thoughts and ideas on the value, role and benefits deriving from organizing, interpreting and contextualizing existing information for specific audiences and needs.
AI Antidote
The best antidote against the fear of becoming irrelevant in front of the tsunami of average, superficial content generated by AI and is to explore and learn the power of interpreting and contextualizing the infinite human dialogue for specific audiences and needs.
Here’s why I think so:
By collecting and examining multiple sources and authors a human curator becomes a relevant and useful source for AI search (AI search appreciates niche expert advice that references lot of good quality resources - like it should always have been)
.A human curator provides a specific perspective and viewpoint from an authoritative individual, based on his specific experience. That’s a unique perspective that AI cannot easily replicate, as AI does not have a specific perspective nor a personal experience.
.Curating content lits up individual ideas, refines new discoveries and helps to critically and constructively analyze what we study and care about instead of blending it all in a normalized package of nice words without offering a trace to the original people, contexts and needs that gave birth to them.
.Human curators are curiosity sherpas that can supply infinite opportunities for the discovery of relevant content and authors.
.Curation work shines, when trust drives it. That means that the curator shares the same values, ideas and purpose that his audience has. AI has no deep, innate and intrinsic purpose, value or ideals outside of those, non-transparent bias have been programmed into it. Thus it can offer great counterpoints and alternative views, but it cannot deeply trusted as you would do with a human whose value have been made public.
How To Combat Algos
How to combat algorithms when you are a curator.
Algorithms reward instant gratification, though your audience may prefer more depth and insights.
To stay visible, focus on synthesizing without losing depth.
Curation as a Dynamic Meaning-Maker
People tend to believe that every piece of information, resource, or tool has a single, objective truth—a fixed definition that applies universally.
But that’s a rigid illusion.
Meaning and relevance are fluid.
They shift depending on who engages with the material, their context, needs, background, and goals. The same resource can communicate different truths, serve diverse purposes, and deliver unique value depending on how it’s framed.
Curation reshapes what exists to meet a specific purpose, context, or mindset.
Curation isn’t just organizing content; it’s dynamically reshaping perception. It’s like a lens that adjusts focus to reveal a tailored, highly relevant view of the same material. The value of curation lies in its ability to adapt, to clarify what matters most for a specific audience, to frame information so it resonates and serves a purpose.
Thoughtful curation translates content into meaning.
.
One great example:
The Untold Curation Truth
Don’t get fooled.
Although curation can save very significant time to those who benefit from it, it positively does not save any time at all to the curators who exercise it.
.
The Key Benefits of Content Curation (Robin Good - 2017)
Great Curated Newsletter Examples
These are newsletters that don’t give advice, don’t reveal secret formulas and don’t tell you what to do. They reveal and unearth precious things, stories and resources that may escape our limited radars or that could be very hard to find or run into.
Noted
A newsletter about the world's best note takers
by Jillian Hess
About the author:
English professor at CUNY and author of How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information: Commonplace Books, Scrapbooks, and Albums (Oxford University Press, 2022). Started “Noted” curated newsletter in August 2022.
Newsletter description:
Each Noted newsletter focuses on an individual note-taker with an overview of their note-taking life, inspiring quotes, archival photos, and thoughts on what the curator has learned from them. It also showcases visual notes, sketches or commonplace books examples from a specific author while highlighting its key characteristics and features. Fuels a community of passionate readers and contributors that help each other discover more fascinating notes.
Insights:
”There are infinite ways to organize a blank page; therein lies the wonder.” For Jillian Hess, collected notes aren’t just words written on a piece of paper. They are records kept as aids to remember important things that time shouldn't slowly erase. Notes can be leaves preserved inside book pages, scraps of paper, doodles, Polaroids, marginalia, movie scripts and even locks of hair.
Adds value by:
Shedding light on the historical context where the note was created and on the author whose notes are being analyzed.
Attempting to understand original author attitude and spirit in writing them and while doing so allowing the reader to get a glimpse into the author life, discoveries, joys and challenges.
Drawing parallels, quotes and anecdotal references to other great writers and artists.
CreatorBoom
Grow your audience. Build your business.
by John Bardos
About the author:
Sold over $1 million in online courses. Lives with his beautiful family across Montreal, Osaka, Chiang Mai, and Budapest (in rotation). Has lived for many years in Japan where he has owned an English language school. Believes that there has never been a better time to create personally designed careers and lifestyles and to bring one’s own ideas to the world. Does not own a home, a car, or many possessions. Loves freedom to live where he wants and to work on projects that bring excitement to his family.
Newsletter description:
Weekly newsradar focusing on reporting high-quality, useful and applicable advice for online business growth. The newsletter brings together links and short descriptions to a limited selection of recent articles. Few selections, high value. Creatorboom is targeted at indie entrepreneurs and creators.
Insights:
Does an excellent job of finding and presenting some of the best content published weekly for creators and indie entrepreneurs. 2000+ subscriber base. Likes to focus on “creating in public”. Interesting bio and personal story.
Adds value by:
Picking and selecting highly relevant articles for a specific audience and need (online business growth).
Titling, framing and explaining why each selected content matters to the reader.
Providing a thumbnail image of the linked article / video.
Suggesting related content when relevant.
Using a unique design format that makes the content highly readable (very short line length) and very scanable.
Dense Discovery
Thoughtfully curated links from a noisy web.
by Kai Brach
About the author:
Designer, publisher based in Melbourne, Australia and creator of print magazine Offscreen. Climate change activist.
Newsletter description:
More magazine than typical newsletter, DD is a beautifully laid out publication. It presents many different content sections showcasing hand-picked useful resources, ideas, books as well as inspiring art and design projects discovered online. DD curates a mix of the practical and contemplative by including thought-provoking essays, podcasts and videos. It strikes a good balance between presenting useful and thought-provoking ideas. Independent, green-left leaning.
Insights:
Published since 2018. 35,000+ subscribers. Strong indie spirit, clearly targeting independent creators, small businesses and supporters of open-source software. Officially claims to be on a journey to "highlight paths toward a more considered existence online and in real life – one that resists the pull of the attention merchants."
Adds value by:
Leveraging a well-thought out design framework which allows to present many different content categories without resulting overwhelming.
Keeping most sections rather short and to the point, resulting in blocks of clean-looking and highly readable content, which invites exploration.
Writing a personal emotionally felt introduction to each issue, often on important, non-trivial issues.
Having invited guest(s) recommend useful resources.
Providing lots of high-quality, non-obvious, recommendations for books, apps, design, fonts, stuff to read and more.
Keeping all of these good content accessible to all for free.
This issue of TRUST-able is an experiment that tries to follow, what I have understood you’re expecting from me.
If I am on the right track, let me know. Give me hints. Suggestions.
If I have gone off track, help me see where I took the wrong exit.
I listen and read all of your comments and messages.
Follow a path with a heart.
From Koh Samui (TH)
Robin Good
Robin, you're doing great! You're absolutely on the right track!