Content+Curation

=toc Content Curation =

Curators are generally considered to be people who care for and manage a collection, usually of objects, within a cultural institution such as a museum, gallery, library or archive. They are specialist in a particular field represented by the objects they curate. In addition to collecting and caring for the objects, their role grew to include providing interpretation, just as librarians roles changed to include more than simply guarding and caring for a collection of books. As the world has changed, particularly in the information age, curation has moved on to include “digital curators”, who care for and manage digital collections, whether digitally born or created. An even newer role is that of content curation.

What is Content Curation?
More particularly content curation is used to describe the act of selecting, organizing and sharing the best content on a specific subject. Most of what is currently called content curation refers also to highly topical material, although this is not a necessary stipulation.Internet users have shared the best of what they find since the beginning. Early bulletin board users pointed fellow academics to interesting papers. Tweeters regularly post noteworthy links. Wikipedia relies on the content gathering and curation provided by contributors. Librarians gather information and create Libguides and subject pathfinders. All of these can be considered content curation.

media type="custom" key="11410364" align="left" width="247" height="247" The internet has become overwhelming in its size and incredible variety of content. . Searches on Google provide hundreds of thousands or even millions of results. There is so much out there that it can become difficult to separate quality, reliable and useful information from useless, ill-informed writing. Even those who have excellent skills in information literacy may have difficulty finding the time to select the best information. The need for sorting, filtering, selecting and commenting on this mass of information – for content curation - has become more vital over the last several years.
 * Why do we need content curation? **

Why should librarians become content curators?
Librarians already are. From selection of materials to displays to creating subject pathfinders, librarians have been involved in curating content for many years. Librarians have the skills in differentiating the highest quality and most relevant information. Many are subject specialists. All that is needed is to put those existent skills to work in using the new content curation tools and using them to let the public see librarians as experts.

Content Curation versus Aggregation
Aggregation refers to the collection of material on a subject. Basic aggregators of internet content include RSS feed readers. A number of web-based applications are able to do fairly specific aggregation of material based using algorithms to find and link to content based on selected criteria. While they can be used as a step towards the curation of content, they lack a necessary element – the human skill of looking through information and determining what is really most relevant and best in quality. Automated content aggregation is a useful method for content curators to use in pulling in potentially interesting material. Some of the popular automated aggregators include:
 * RSS News Readers
 * Google Alerts
 * Google News
 * paper.li
 * The Tweeted Times
 * Netvibes
 * More

How to curate content
People who curate content use an assortment of tools to gather potential information worth sharing. Among these tools are aggregators as listed above, permanent searches, and social sharing sources including youtube and flickr that have proven useful.

Information curators generally focus tightly on one area of expertise. They are consistent and focused. In addition to careful selection of the best material in their field, many will add commentary to put the content they present in context. While content creation will always have great value, the role of curators in sifting, selecting and presenting the best is of virtually equal value in a world teaming with information.

It is vital to stay current in the field you will curate. Read the journals, magazine and trade journals. Keep up to date with new books in the field. Go to conferences or virtual conferences, check for slideshares and podcasts. Follow other content curators, both to find information and to see some of the useful techniques that they use. Gather far more information than you actually share.

Sort through the content you have found, select the best and most relevant. Add context and meaning with commentary and with linking to other material. Share your content through the many content curation and publishing tools available. Remember that content curation is not a solitary pursuit, but involves elements of social media and communication. Be prepared for, critiques and questions. Be available.

Software and Apps

 * Libguides
 * Scoop.it
 * Storify
 * BagTheWeb
 * Pearltrees
 * Bundlr
 * Tumblr
 * LiveBinder
 * Connotea

Benefits
Most of the benefits of content curation are mentioned above. For the user or reader they include filtered content from a person with an expert outlook, often including commentary that puts issues and subjects into context. Libraries and librarians benefit by increased exposure, a new and useful method of reaching and informing their community and increased perception as experts in their fields.

Problems
media type="youtube" key="qvwlzvQSXJU" height="324" width="432" align="right" Problems that can occur with content curation include most commonly ethical issues related to attribution and copyright. It is necessary for a curator to avoid quoting beyond a reasonable fair use portion of copyrighted content, to provide prominent links to online content and reliable location information for offline content. Fortunately, librarians generally have more experience than most people in dealing with copyright issues. The other most current problem is that as content curation becomes increasingly popular, the field has become flooded, sometimes with less than expert curators. Once again, the skill set inherent in library work is well suited to creating trusted and reliable curation.

Venable, M. A, & Hilbelink,. A. (2011, August). Managing the Flow of Information in Social Networks: How do you do it? //elearn magazine//. Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2021095

Bhargava, R. (2011, March). The Five Models of Content Curation. // Influential Marketing Blog. //Retrieved from http://www.rohitbhargava.com/2011/03/the-5-models-of-content-curation.html

== Brown, E. (2011, May). Is Content Curation the New Community Builder? //Social Media Explorer//. Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/is-content-curation-the-new-community-builder/ ==

Links
Content Curation World on Scoop.it Social Media Content Curation on Scoop.it Web Content & Digital Curation on Scoop.it Curation for Learning on Scoop.it What Makes A Great Curator Great? How To Distinguish High-Value Curation From Generic Republishing [|icurate: Digital Tools for Gathering and Sharing Information] Best practices for content curation