Curation: Understanding the Social Fire Hose. As the tragic events of Oslo unfolded, so too did the importance of content curation in the social sphere.
Some interesting commentary on the reporting of the Oslo massacre by FastCompany further advances the vital role of content curators in piecing together time-lines of events as they actually unfold based on real-time tweets. Now this is nothing new. We know that social media channels, in particular Twitter, have been used for some time in contributing to ‘on the scene’ reporting by citizen journalist. It started to reach the attention of big media around the time of the student uprisings in Iran as a result of the government’s crackdown on media, and has continued ever since. The Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Arab Spring uprising and of course this latest tragedy are excellent examples of the role Twitter plays in journalism, and this type of reporting will continue to interact with mainstream reportage.
(And then for fun he said any BBC journalist not on Twitter should be sacked) Social content curation – a shift from the traditional. The notion of content curation is one that has traditionally been associated with libraries, archivies, galleries, or organisations working with objects or data in some way.
For example, in the DCC Curation Lifecycle (UK) you will see a complex flow of the “appraise and select” activities which requires data managers to “evaluate data and select for long-term curation and preservation”. So ‘selection’ or ‘acquisition’ is then closely linked to a repository or institutional policy on collection development. Now the extraordinary thing is that the term ‘curation’ has become one of the latest buzz-words in the social online sphere, which has been transformed into an activity that is both about marketing and about organisation of the vast information flow that is delivered via social media. Social networking has definitely provided us with main channels for information flow.
It comes down to organizing your sources, knowing which of them are trust worthy, and seeing patterns. Randi's Take: From Interests to Pinterest ~ The Modern Museum Curator Is You! The Art of Social Image Curation and Visual Linking. It seems like everyone is jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon these days and creating boards of their favorite images.
I have to admit, I too, have found it quite pleasurable to browse the hundreds of pictures that range from cool products to delicious food to interesting architecture. During my time on the site I’ve noticed that Pinterest is creating a new type of online sharer, the social image curator. This activity goes way beyond normal photo sharing that’s done on Flickr or Facebook. Users are connecting with images to self-identify with their needs, wants and desires. And it’s interesting to see how people are approaching this new art form by the items they “pin” and the boards they create. Visual Bookmarking and Storytelling The truth is Pinterest gives users a care-free way of categorizing content on their terms. Let’s not forget the current fascination with data visualization, a.k.a. infographics. Developing a Visual Content Strategy.