I’m interested in what it means to be curious. So I was intrigued by a new study about curiosity that I found via The Conversation.

The study examined the different ways nearly half a million Wikipedia users read their way through its massive network of articles. It turns out these can be characterised as three different styles of curiosity.

The authors write:

“By measuring the structure of knowledge networks constructed by readers weaving a thread through articles in Wikipedia, we replicate two styles of curiosity previously identified in laboratory studies: the nomadic “busybody” and the targeted “hunter.” Further, we find evidence for another style—the “dancer””.

And what are these different styles? In very brief summary:

“The busybody scouts for loose threads of novelty, the hunter pursues specific answers in a projectile path, and the dancer leaps in creative breaks with tradition across typically siloed areas of knowledge.”

dancers

I immediately identified with the ‘dancer’ style, though as the researchers' work reflects, it depends on the kind of information I’m looking for. Going deeper, I found the analysis of knowledge networks really interesting.

And the description of the ‘dancer’ style certainly resonated with what I’ve learned about note-making according to the Zettelkasten approach:

“This type of curiosity is described as a dance in which disparate concepts, typically conceived of as unrelated, are briefly linked in unique ways as the curious individual leaps and bounds across traditionally siloed areas of knowledge. Such brief linking fosters the generation or creation of new experiences, ideas, and thoughts.”

There’s a lot more to unpack from this article, and I’m going to be thinking about it for a while. For example, is there really a ‘goldilocks’ setting for curiosity - just enough to be useful, not so much as to overwhelm? I guess there must be, but I don’t know how you’d find it. For me the goldilocks setting isn’t to expand or else rein in my curiosity, but rather to find tools and especially techniques to enable me to make the most of my curiosity.

References:

Dale Zhou et al., Architectural styles of curiosity in global Wikipedia mobile app readership.Sci. Adv.10,eadn3268(2024).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adn3268

Image: Giordano Dance Chicago. Wikimedia, [Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International](Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International).