Just an idea I wanted to get out of my head before I "lost" it!

As I've written before, the usage of memory palaces fascinates me. And to build one that can be used online as well as off I find even more intriguing! The problem has always been - why would anyone else want to use it?

I was just reading about yet another sentiment analysis startup. Now, the dirty little secret of most sentiment analysis tools is that they have two lists of words - one positive and one negative. They count up the times words on those lists appear in user-generated or professionally generated content, diff the numbers, and voila - we now know if your brand, product or (insert concept here) is successful or not! A very shallow solution all in all. Even if you do understand that in Boston "wicked" is a positive intensifier.

Here's the idea, which needs lots of work to gain more depth than the above solution. What if we could connect the dots in a memory palace with our sentiment about a concept we're storing in it? Over time, build a personal library of positive and negative images, metaphors and other connections that have meaning at the personal level, and therefore more accurately indicate our sentiment regarding something? Is that possible? Then of course you'd need some logic to compare one person's sentiment with someone else, based on the patterns of each individual's behavior. That's an algorithm I'd love to see.

And what if that memory palace was served up as part of my APML, to help refine my interactions with other sources of content? It could also be fascinating to see how other people use the same images as I do for similar or disparate purposes - just as symbologists discover different uses for the same symbols in different cultures and times.

Eek, I just started thinking about trust too... Apparently this is not going to be a post with answers! Quite a data model I've got going on in my head. Thankfully I find the process itself intriguing. :)