I must admit when I first heard the term 'curation' I dismissed it and filed it as a piece of meaningless marketing-speak under the same heading as 'new and improved'. (Something can either be 'new' or 'improved'. It can't be both. I may be improved by shaving and putting on a clean shirt, but it doesn't mean my wife's got a new man.)
The fact that 'curation' is a made-up word which seems to be trying to suggest there's something hip and happening about the world of museums didn't seem to bode too well either. There must, I thought, be a more exciting way of describing the creation of something new from many sources of information.
But why bother? My initial reaction was rather the same as this blogger. If you have a problem with data overload, is the answer to add yet another piece of data to the avalanche? Also, there is no shortage of aggregators and filters that will automatically search for information.
At the same time 'curation' sounds as if it's just another word for what I've been doing for much of the last 30 years as a journalist. It's just a bit more open and honest.
Most journalism isn’t about exposing liars and fraudsters in high places, instead it involves taking information from a variety of sources and digesting it for readers, viewers or listeners. A typical news story could include information from press releases, news wires such as Press Association or Reuters, company websites and, sometimes but not always, interviews with participants. If you think this is a cut-and-paste job you wouldn’t be far wrong.
That said, it is a job that’s easier to describe than to do. Or perhaps it sounds simple to me because I’ve been doing it for a long time. And there are definite advantages to using a tool such as Storify. (In fact this question arose from me playing around with Storify for a short time. You can see the results here.)
It’s honest because it automatically cites sources so readers can see exactly where information comes from. I’m not too keen on the appearance of Storify stories. They’re best described as ‘functional’ in the way some girls (never boys) at school were said to be ‘plain’.
I can, however, see enormous potential for Storify and other curation services. In these days of declining advertising revenue and citizen journalism there are a declining number of outlets for me to ply my trade professionally in the old-fashioned way of selling articles. When I can do that, though, I could imagine using Storify as a way of acknowledging my sources as one should.
It’s also a great tool for businesses or, in fact, any organisation. Here’s a way of bringing together all the responses to an event such as a launch. A product may, for instance, attract reviews from professional magazines and websites, bloggers and consumers. Storify makes it easy not only to bring all these together, but to put them in context, responding to both praise and criticism.
Cowardly organisations could make the results available internally so staff can learn from an event. Braver enterprises could use it to develop their relationship with customers. This has enormous potential, especially given the growing dissatisfaction with Google search which I predict will have a huge impact this year. Some analysts are predicting curation will be the new search. Check the link in my Storify if you want to know more.
Anyway, this was supposed to be a question not War and Peace. Is curation simply old wine in new bottles? No, it’s old wine in old bottles, but it’s in a new easy-to-use case. And that’s not a criticism.
The fact that 'curation' is a made-up word which seems to be trying to suggest there's something hip and happening about the world of museums didn't seem to bode too well either. There must, I thought, be a more exciting way of describing the creation of something new from many sources of information.
But why bother? My initial reaction was rather the same as this blogger. If you have a problem with data overload, is the answer to add yet another piece of data to the avalanche? Also, there is no shortage of aggregators and filters that will automatically search for information.
At the same time 'curation' sounds as if it's just another word for what I've been doing for much of the last 30 years as a journalist. It's just a bit more open and honest.
Most journalism isn’t about exposing liars and fraudsters in high places, instead it involves taking information from a variety of sources and digesting it for readers, viewers or listeners. A typical news story could include information from press releases, news wires such as Press Association or Reuters, company websites and, sometimes but not always, interviews with participants. If you think this is a cut-and-paste job you wouldn’t be far wrong.
That said, it is a job that’s easier to describe than to do. Or perhaps it sounds simple to me because I’ve been doing it for a long time. And there are definite advantages to using a tool such as Storify. (In fact this question arose from me playing around with Storify for a short time. You can see the results here.)
It’s honest because it automatically cites sources so readers can see exactly where information comes from. I’m not too keen on the appearance of Storify stories. They’re best described as ‘functional’ in the way some girls (never boys) at school were said to be ‘plain’.
I can, however, see enormous potential for Storify and other curation services. In these days of declining advertising revenue and citizen journalism there are a declining number of outlets for me to ply my trade professionally in the old-fashioned way of selling articles. When I can do that, though, I could imagine using Storify as a way of acknowledging my sources as one should.
It’s also a great tool for businesses or, in fact, any organisation. Here’s a way of bringing together all the responses to an event such as a launch. A product may, for instance, attract reviews from professional magazines and websites, bloggers and consumers. Storify makes it easy not only to bring all these together, but to put them in context, responding to both praise and criticism.
Cowardly organisations could make the results available internally so staff can learn from an event. Braver enterprises could use it to develop their relationship with customers. This has enormous potential, especially given the growing dissatisfaction with Google search which I predict will have a huge impact this year. Some analysts are predicting curation will be the new search. Check the link in my Storify if you want to know more.
Anyway, this was supposed to be a question not War and Peace. Is curation simply old wine in new bottles? No, it’s old wine in old bottles, but it’s in a new easy-to-use case. And that’s not a criticism.
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