The difference between synthesis and aggregation
Synthesis: “The combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity.”
Aggregation: “A group or mass of distinct or varied things, persons, etc. Collection into an unorganized whole.”
We’ve spent many long years urging news sites to do more aggregation. Battle won. The new motto should be: “Don’t just aggregate, synthesize.”
No related posts.
A couple of theses:
Aggregated articles can be automated, and so require no one to write.
Synthesized articles demand collaboration, and so require many people to write.
Both of these contrast with traditional articles, which exchange compensation for responsibility, and so require a single person (or small explicit group) to write.
Paradoxes:
1) Synthesized articles written by many people appear as if they were written by no one.
2) Aggregated articles written by no one appear as if they were written by many people.
3) Traditional articles written by a single person claim both greater impartiality and humanity than synthesized or aggregated articles.
And then there is the exception: the synthesized article that is nevertheless entirely individual.
Tim
15 Dec 08 at 5:17 pm