A List Apart: Articles: The Content Strategist as Digital Curator - 11 views
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the techniques and principles of museum curatorship can inform how we create online experiences—particularly when we approach content.
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Terry Elliott on 15 Jul 12I will be looking for these techniques and principles as I read and I hope the rest of you do as well.
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In galleries and museums, curators use judgment and a refined sense of style to select and arrange art to create a narrative, evoke a response, and communicate a message.
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Sometimes I feel like I am ripping the concept of curation out of its original context and trying to transplant it into a new body of knowledge without testing to see if that body will reject it.
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"refined sense of style" makes me think, too, of how exclusive curating can be, and how it can leave many people outside, looking in. I wonder if the digital era will change that? -
That's why I keep harping about the notion of high level curation where you provide a roadmap or key which gives direction in for different audiences: n00bs, experts, apprentices, journeymen
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some examples
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Does anyone else have other examples? Pinterest and Scoop.it jump easily to mind.
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Yes, and I ran across an old friend the other day that is a classic example of curation before it was even called that: the Scout Report.
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Here is a link to the Scout Report with a curated example: https://scout.wisc.edu/Archives/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=30064 Note how the author gives a "key" to his resource map here.
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more sites can be considered institutions
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Interesting to use the term "institutions" for websites. I don't normally think like that. But maybe that is old thinking. That an institution is a physical place. I know that is not true, though.
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Interesting point, Kevin. I, like you, hadn't thought of websites as institutions.
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content as a medium that needs to be strategically selected and placed to engage the audience, convey a message, and inspire action.
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interesting thoughts here, and right on target with how can view curated materials for a public audience. Makes me think of connections to marketing, though, which rubs me the wrong way. I wonder why.
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I agree, connections to marketing rubs me the wrong way too. I'm resistant to the use of marketing language eg brand etc marketing and education is a very uncomfortable alliance for me... might have let go of this.resistance
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the web is a far less constrained space which offers access to multiple dimensions of content at once.
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If you want to entice more visitors with special exhibitions, you must examine traffic patterns to find trends on which objects or topics users find most interesting, so that they will stay longer and consume more. Using analytics to optimize your content is a proactive approach to content production which allows you to allocate resources and budget in the most effective areas.
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More marketing concepts, but maybe we need to consider it, too. As a teacher, how DO I know if my students are using the information I curate? How do I know the time is spent well on my end and on their end? I'm not sure analytics is the key but ....
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Perhaps the way to do this is to get them to further curate the information in simple ways at first (what were my fav/least fav objects and why) to more complex (what articles would you include for n00bies and why).
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Good ideas Terry, I thought your poem on vialogues with the poll could be a good way to go as it encouraged and guided responses.
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Thanks, the guiding part is the key to high end curation i.e. a way out of the misery of info overload.
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I wonder how much it depends on the audience being part of the mix, as you suggest. How does that change the concept of curation when the viewer/reader is a partner in the curation? (ie, are there rules? boundaries? flow?) Interesting to think about the tension between control and openness.
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Instead of rules and boundaries, I would propose invitations and specific roles and opportunities, and the roles might promote the establishment and maintenance of boundaries predetermined by organizers.
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For the digital curator, well structured user-generated content upfront means reaping material that meets metadata and quality standards. This means you can spend time and money on producing thoughtful curatorial packages that use user-generated content rather than spending time finding, reworking, and retro-tagging so others can find it.
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content managers
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What is the difference between a content manager and a curator at the level of classroom instructor?
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NYTimes.com Topics
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Times' Topics is a great example of curation. The warehouse the curators select from is the NYT. The 'objects' they curate are centered on topics (in this case hyperlinked places in their warehouse). I use this in my freshman comp class as a starting place for becoming 'conversant' (with all that implies and related to literacy).
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pieces akin to “special exhibitions,”
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Curation technique: create special exhibitions from one's curated closet.
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It also suggests a time frame -- maybe temporary, or else why would we consider it "special"? There is an inherent draw to something that won't be around forever. Does that translate to digital? (ie, what you feature on a homepage versus what you keep buried?)
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frequently reinterpreted by guest curators
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More commercially,
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I often forget that there are curatorial spaces out there that are commercial. Do you have that bias?
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On the e-commerce end, shopping sites such as Anthropologie and J.Crew have digitized the medium of the store window display by curating clothing collections while Polyvore invites users to curate their own style collections from a database of brands and celebrities.
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These are examples of the most targeted and highly curated sets of news and current events out there. Each is backed by a refined point of view on the news that is worth the most attention (and what is worth linking to)—all based on highly branded perspectives and voices.
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These are examples that should show teachers the practical value of teaching curation in the classroom. And it demonstrates the necessity for it as well. Curation is deep in the digital culture.
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It’s critical to create a content experience with purpose, that is consistent and contextual. This helps to assert your brand’s authority, establishes relationships with your audience, and secures a return visit based on your content’s value.
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Curation principle: your audience should feel the purpose of your curation and it should be consistent and in context
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content as a medium that needs to be strategically selected and placed to engage the audience, convey a message, and inspire action.
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Curation principle: content must be used to dramatic effect to engage, convey, and inspire.
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“Responsible maintenance” is an important principle of good curatorship.
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And important -- dullness makes for boring curation. So, there is a constant need to tinker, re-evaluate, revalue and shift content as part of curation.
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For example, in museums, registrars are responsible for the metadata around physical objects. Conservators are responsible for the care and upkeep of the physical objects, while curators are responsible for selling the collection to users.
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I was unaware that there were these specialized jobs in a curatorial setting. Significance to those who claim to 'curate'? Curation is way more robust and qualitatively more extensive than I realized.
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I have proposed just such a team with Kevin Hodgson and Paul Oh on curating digital curation using Diigo as our vehicle. Care to join? Perhaps we can even have a little division of work along conservator/registrar/curator lines? Or perhaps another vehicle or collaborative topic?
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I'm in. :) With regard to this particular pullout, I would say that much in the way that what it means to compose has changed due to the affordances of online tools (making music means not only playing the notes, but can also mean recording and mixing and other tasks that used to be thought of as back end), I think digital curation veers from museum curation in this same way. As a digital curator, you are also registrar and conservator. In this sense, I think digital content curation teams would be a great idea but would act differently than museum-based teams.
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I think music is a great example. The fact that we have been forced to use terms from other disciplines is strong evidence that a major shift has occurred. I would love to see a website in education that focused on curating one topic a week, but that involved a rotating editorial board (see I have to borrow from newspapers now). Once a topic was up then it would be open to community curation (maybe I am describing a wiki, but somehow this feels different) Digital.Is does this with resources I think.
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This one is new to me, too. I definitely like a team approach to curation, and these roles certainly suggest analogous approaches online.
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Effective tracking sheds light on: where your users come from (searching within the site or via search engines), how and how often they share your content with others, how your content is being digested (time spent), what causes people to leave (bounce rates), what the most popular topics are and how to optimize your content to meet these demands (keyword and phrase tracking), and movement between related materials.
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And using data to guide curation. Prob controversial in some circles. We're so used to curating art/media from an emotional center (I know what they will like)
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While analytics help expose and forecast behavior on a site, they don’t show exactly how much your audience enjoys and connects emotionally with your content. For this reason, a larger reconnaissance effort that balances traffic data (behavior) with qualitative user feedback is critical to understand how what you create truly hits home.
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As I've been participating in this course, I've been thinking about strategies for effective curation that promote making meaning and adding value, without thinking about promoting, or advertising in an effort to grow an audience. Reading about curation this way, does seem like a move away from a museum curator's work.
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the content-strategist-as-curator is the invaluable human presence. They play the role of the guide (docent) by proposing topics for discussion. They set expectations and tone and then steer the conversation when it becomes stale or off-track. Of course, this can’t be done without an intimate relationship with the collection and community.
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What would it look like if you could program software to "curate," I wonder?
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Actually, after I wrote that, then I realized that my daily Paper.li does that. I just provide my Twitter list and it makes the news. I have no real say (but I can go in and edit content and move it around. I just never do).
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In galleries and museums, curators use judgment and a refined sense of style to select and arrange art to create a narrative, evoke a response, and communicate a message. As the digital
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To me these skills are high order and would come from significant levels of immersion in the art world Im not sure how they might translate to the digital world?
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So awesome to see you here, liz. I think you can there via good ol' passion. If you can find some cool thing or other that you are excited about to the point of distraction, then you can develop the skills to curate that interest.
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Maybe if we correlate "arrangement" with use of hyperlinks, it makes more sense. How we do establish a logical approach and grouping of resources, linked together and yet part of a whole?
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that house evergreen assets—
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Think of your users as “free” freelancers who provide and catalogue unique content on a minute-by-minute basis.
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What if we substituted students/learners for 'freelancers' here? Or better yet how could we devise a project where our students would be freelancers.
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Theoretically, users entering content are the farthest removed source of CMS input. You must train them on how to enter data into your system. After you determine the metadata requirements that make publishing user-generated content fast, easy, and efficient during interface design, content strategists must create best practices to encourage users to input data accurately. Such guidelines should include how to resize/retouch images, how to best tag posts according to the site’s structure, a mini style guide, or even basic search engine optimization practices.
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Wow, this is the kind of purposeful training I want to give my students. Here is a whole unit of study on digital media.
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define big picture objectives, the mission, and editorial program for the site based on the initial content assessment.
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reframe the collection by creating an overarching strategy that defines how content be should be organized, positioned, and made relevant (think: exhibition rooms in a museum or gallery).
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identify what is premium (the most unique among competitors, desirable to users, and drives high traffic)
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Whether the content is timely (headlines and new content) or timeless (evergreen = archival content that maintains relevance by retaining encyclopaedic qualities), online curation is about selectively and effectively balancing these space-time factors to create context in order for the site to feel alive, relevant, and worth returning to.
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Purpose of curation, and it reminds me that there needs to be a mix of timely and timeless. I don't see anyone going back in the web to find timeless content. In fact the bias is that info that is old is stale at best and rotten and well past its sell date at worst. Hmmm.
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Curating your “permanent collection” enables you to frame your best assets, emphasize your unique voice, communicate a refined sensibility to your audience, and breathe new life and significance into content that may otherwise be lost in the mass.
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Value of curation: framing, using voice to emphasize, show 'refined sensibility', point out and bring to life something that might have been lost if not curated-a thesis of sorts.
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One major difference between gallery and digital curators is the integrated and exposed community. For example, in museums there is a large divide between the general audience and expert researchers. Online this is not always the case, permitting the digital curator to harvest this additional content, spotlight it, and create a dialogue with users.
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From curation to conversation, where participation and time become factors.
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As a bonus, when it’s time to move to a new platform, make interaction changes, or expand into social media such as Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook, the digital curator will play a critical role in adapting editorial calendars to include social media channels as well as in selling the new space to users. They will also call on community leaders to advocate and socialize these delicate transitions.
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More differences here, highlighting the time component. Also, consideration of audience seems different than the active pursuit of a broad audience, especially as I type a note for other course participants to read. I'm not worried about gaining a larger audience for my notes in this article, but I am aware of the audience I have when I publish notes to a group.
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As a digital curator, you’ve worked hard on your taxonomy to establish topical ownership areas.
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Does this definition of curation push the boundaries of what we have already considered in this course?
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