Trixie’s Story: Virtual Assistants and Interest Graphs
I was meeting with two guys, one a technologist, one a business advisor.
The discussion was focused on Primal’s technology: semantic user models, knowledge representation, yada, yada…
The business advisor, having listened patiently for some time, finally interjects, “Tell me what this means to Trixie!”
“Trixie?”
“Yes, the everyday person. Tell me a story of why Trixie would care about any of this?”
The Backstory: Remember Social Networking?
Years ago, digital social networks didn’t exist. Each of us managed our networks manually, slowly and laboriously.
Eventually, digital social networks transformed our lives. Giants like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have profited greatly from this sea change.
Similarly, our individual interests, what we care most about in life, once had no concrete digital representation. Today, interest graphs represent your interests in a concrete, digital form and put them to work on your behalf.
So, here’s how virtual assistants and interest graphs will change Trixie’s life…
Introducing Trixie
Trixie is a busy executive in a growing tech company.
She has many personal and professional interests.
She is pursuing her MBA part-time in entrepreneurship at the local university, and outside of work she loves photography and fine Asian cuisine.
Trixie is very close to her father who lives in a senior’s complex.
Information that follows you
Interest graphs provide relevant and timely information whenever you need it. No matter where you are, your digitized interests are always working for you.
Trixie loves her new business book and she’s sad to reach its end. She wishes she could continue experiencing and learning from the book as time goes on, so she adds the topics from her book to her interest network.
On a daily basis, her interest graph provides her with valuable new information and insights related to the specific topics from the book.
A network dedicated to your most important decisions
Interest graphs are simple to explore and evolve automatically over time. They help you learn and make decisions about what matters to you.
Trixie’s father suffers from early stage Alzheimer’s.
Trixie wants to help her father, so she adds topics to her interest graph related to Alzheimer’s and his specific symptoms and concerns.
As new information becomes available online, whether news items from hundreds of sources, or even tweets, Trixie’s interest graph sends it to her automatically, 24/7, empowering her with new and relevant information.
Trixie talks to her doctor about new clinical trials, advocating on her father’s behalf.
Knowledge tailored to your needs
Interest graphs are built around knowledge. You can share your interest graph or gain knowledge from others, such as specialists, authors, consultants or even history’s greatest minds.
Trixie’s MBA program requires her to research issues facing women entrepreneurs.
Because her university library connects to Primal, Trixie can quickly and easily connect her personal interests to research in her field.
Trixie quickly learns about pioneering women entrepreneurs in the high-tech industry and gets to collaborate with the finest minds in her field via shared interest graphs.
Virtual assistants that work for you
Automated virtual assistants that are powered by your interest graph will effortlessly create up-to-date knowledge, delivered directly to you, based on your interests.
Trixie travels on business frequently and doesn’t have time to explore each new city.
Upon landing in Chicago, Trixie’s automated virtual assistant connects to the itinerary on her mobile device and notices she has no dinner plans.
Her virtual assistant can read Trixie’s interest graph directly, understands Trixie’s interest in Asian cuisine, and filters Yelp reviews to find the perfect restaurant for her, one that features local artists!
Illustrations by David Janik-Jones.
Getting Started
If you’d like to dig deeper into your interest graph and start building your own next-generation user experiences, check out our developers site.