Omnivark’s Time and Place

Today saw the final edition of Omnivark, my personal project to teach a computer to identify great writing. Each day, Omnivark would pick three pieces of new, nonfiction writing on the Web, plus a book. I’m proud of Omnivark’s quality during its six-month run.

So why stop now?

Omnivark was something different and fun to do during the past months while I was also doing consulting. However, that period was an in-between time, from when I completed the Intelligent Cross-Sell integration at RichRelevance until my family’s move back to the Bay Area, which is happening in August. Soon after, I’ll be resuming my normal career—more on that in a future post.

Suffice to say, Omnivark was of a certain place and time, which are changing. I enjoyed creating it; I hope you enjoyed reading it.

And finally, for those interested in how the technology worked:

• Why Omnivark? summarizes my motivations and the technology.

• Following the Elites discusses the challenge of who/what to follow to find great writing.

• Stylistic Signals explains how Omnivark determines the great in great writing.

• Omnivark’s Division of Labor explores the roles of human and computer during the Omnivark project.