Besides this idea for curation pools, have you considered allowing for author groups or guilds?
The guild would be there to allow for proofreading and research from separate parties that would all get a slice of the authors tip reward. This would definitely encourage high quality content.
Guilds! huzzah! https://steemit.com/steemit/@blakemiles84/the-steemit-guild-system
I love this post. I think it is a great idea. There has to be a way to hack it until it is built into the steem platform.