Internet-goers consume exorbitant amounts of content daily — news and blogs alike have leapt into the cybersphere in large part because consumers seem to hunger for it. But they don’t just want to read; they want to share. They like, retweet, pin, +1. And the like, retweet, pin, +1 are in some sense the driving force of the internet today. They indicate preference and in turn act as forms of expression. There is a sense here not only of taste but of discovery and creation.

 

The only problem with this form of expression is that it is fleeting. As author Robin Sloan notes, when you like something on the internet you are saying “this is worth your time. But me, I’m on to the next thing.” We do not pause to give attention to the things that we like. We do not return to them, as we might a good book. Because the internet does not command attention. This is not to say that we are not capable of loving written content online – we simply aren’t given the opportunity to love.

 

How Quar.to works: a user browsing the internet comes across a piece (journalism, blog post, recipe, etc.) worth revisiting. She adds it to her shelf by invoking Quar.to’s ellipses (…) on the keyboard. Later, she compiles several such items into a collection (NYTimes Op-Eds on the 2016 Election, Blog Posts About UX, Cookie Recipes), and titles it. Our algorithm then parses the pages for titles, authors, text, images, etc. and prepares them for print. The user pays a small fee, which is distributed between the content owners and our service, and receives a printed, physical book containing the requested work. Love is bind.

 

Quar.to was the grand prize winner at Penn’s Entrepreneurial Journalism Pitch Night, and Fast Company CTO Matt Mankins stepped in to help see the project through.