APPLIED

ANALYTICS:
CREATING
SERENDIPITY
NEIL DAWSON

Our surroundings and experiences influence the way we perceive the world:
how we think and act, the choices we
make, and our general sense of taste.
This multitude of individual tendencies
creates what sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
calls habitus, a cumulative pattern
of the everyday that unconsciously
informs our judgment toward selections
of likeness.

The personalization of the digital

space lies parallel to our habitus, as
algorithms filter and strive to serve
us relevance. As Mark Zuckerberg
stated, A squirrel dying in front of your
house might be more relevant for your
interests right now than people dying
in Africa. The filtered content, much
like the aforementioned disregarded
options, remains invisible a process
that we cannot influence.

TRENDS AT THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY & STORY

The act of filtering

Lets take the case of Spotify, which
introduced a new approach to music
discovery by acquiring Echo Nest, a
music intelligence software. Echo Nest
combines multiple filters to analyze
music on an audio level and cultural
level.1 The former deepens our music
discovery by giving us more of the
same, while the latter broadens our music discovery. But again, the addition is
filtered and thus limited (see Figure 1).
So how can we make our digital experiences more diverse? Dismissing filters
per se is not the solution; without
them, we would be overburdened by
abundance and too much choice would
paralyze us.2 Thats where serendipity
comes into play.3 Serendipity is important for diversifying tastes and (commercially speaking) driving users.

The digitization of serendipity

Serendipity in its purest form is not
reproducible in the digital space. As
soon as people start to choose serendipity (i.e. shuffle music playlists), their
experiences can no longer be seen,
strictly speaking, as serendipitous.
Nevertheless, we believe that the idea
behind serendipity is worth pursuing.
While we cannot reproduce serendipity
in its purest state, we might cultivate
a state of controlled serendipity.
Controlled serendipity can be a tool
for making the bubble of algorithmic
filters, in which we are currently
browsing, permeable.

The challenge now is to start reframing

our digital experiences in order to create a state of controlled serendipity.
And there are numerous ways of doing
this. One solution is to filter only a
certain percentage of our digital experience based on relevance (e.g., 80
percent), while the balance (e.g., 20
percent) remains unfiltered and diverse.

FIGURE01

Introducing serendipity
Digital content is often filtered based
on past patterns and connections,
making discovery difficult.

Another example is algorithmic. Instead

of only filtering according to relevance,
different criteria such as whether
something is challenging, important,
or represents other points of view
could be applied. These criteria can
vary according to platform types and
their purposes.4
Regardless of strategy, we consider
controlled serendipity to be important
in ensuring that users are exposed
to as many distinct experiences as
possible. And we believe it to be commercially relevant in an overcrowded
marketplace, where companies are
keen to deliver unique and memorable
user experiences.

But we can cultivate a state of

controlled serendipity by introducing filters to intentionally introduce
diversity into our digital experience.

As Sir Tim Berners-Lee so eloquently

put it, We need diversity of thought in
the world to face the new challenges.

Filters broadening music

discovery to a limited extent.
Filters deepening music
discovery to a limited extent.

Using rhythm, tempo, and timbre for the former; and by reviews, ratings, and tweets for the latter.

Barry Schwartzs notion of the paradox of choice explains that the more choices we have, the fewer choices we make.

Definition according to the Oxford Dictionaries: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

For example, search engines, social networks, news platforms, or e-commerce websites.

TRENDS AT THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY & STORY

Neil Dawson
Chief Strategy Officer,
SapientNitro London
ndawson@sapient.com
Neil has previously held strategic leadership roles at
Havas, Dare, TBWA, and in his own creative agency. He is
passionate about proving the link between creativity and
commercial effectiveness.
A special thanks to Michle Schwarzer for her contributions
to this article.

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