In the age of tsunami of information, centralized information providers can't be trusted, and defensive mechanisms have to be introduced for people to filter out information that, from their perspective, seems untrue/false or follows a narrative not in their interest. The Web of Trust, in my opinion, can be a beneficial solution to this problem as it will help in filtering information on the fly, not by a central authority, but based on one's own subjective beliefs.
Discussion
Decentralized, WoT-based tools to filter and curate the deluge of information that greets us in the information age are going to be ridiculously powerful and amazingly effective once they get off the ground. For the first time, we’ll have genuine confidence in most of the information that reaches us through the filters.
I often think the main selling point of WoT is that, without it, one is swimming naked in an ocean of information with no protection. With WoT filtering, one can absorb information from reliable sources without the need to spend time filtering out misinformation. Once people first experience the help WoT provides, they may never go back
So the questions, from the perspective of a designer / developer, should be:
1. What tools and apps need to exist in that world that don’t currently exist
2. What’s the roadmap between here and there
Regarding the roadmap, my current focus is to build a path starting at nip51 (already implemented in several websites & clients) and ending at something like Curated Lists (already implemented in my desktop app) in a way that users will find value.
They’re not that far apart!