PLN Project
At the beginning of the summer term, we were asked to form a Professional Learning Network (PLN). I was able to join with a group of hardworking folks that, together, was able to put together 15 criteria for curating information from the world wide web.
My partners and I were able to come up with the following criteria:
Becky
Josh
Ryann
Natalie
1. Target Audience
Choose an audience that you wish to speak to when you begin curating information. Different audiences have different needs so, “you need to understand what kind of content works best to help your specific audience succeed (Pink, 2017). If your aim is towards children or athletes or any other specific market, then your information needs to be directly connected to their wishes so you can support their learning.
2. Original/Authentic
“if you build it, they will ignore it for the most part. If they build it, they will use it,” (Loertscher & Koechlin 2016). Whatever it is that we curate, it is of the utmost importance that is something that our students will want to be a part of. Now, this is a difficult ideal to uphold, because we are the ones that are generally most interested in the digital artifacts and materials we collect. In this ideal world that this particular criteria lives in, it would be perfect if we immediately taught students to curate from the beginning, as that will provide them with some stake in the process. If they build it, they will use it.
3. Relevant
Keeping up to date with trends in education is difficult and a lot like trying to hit a fast paced object with a rock. What is curated digitally, will always be under a lense of scrutiny, as the future rushes toward us every single minute. The people we are curating information for need to have access to the most relevant pieces of knowledge available, as they will be using this knowledge in the work force. “...ongoing assessment is necessary to ensure that competencies reflected in the curriculum are up to date and relevant to job market needs,” (Kim 2015).
4. Diverse (incorporate a variety of media modalities)
The world we live in consists of a multitude of multimedia. The sources in which we gravitate towards for information depend largely upon our preferences, therefore it is imperative to incorporate a variety of mediums when creating a curation of a given topic. Coley (2011) states that blogs featuring only text are, “boring to the eye” and continues on with tips for the incorporation of visuals. This is expanded upon further when he encourages curators to, “Experiment with blog posts that are composed of audio clips, video, slideshows, infographics, graphic art, etc” With a goal of searching through the mass amounts of available product on the internet in hopes of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack there is a strong claim for emphasizing content that grabs our attention as Lee (2016) describes it, “it’s possible that a picture may catch your eye, rather than text itself.” Lending this ideal and criteria for curation to the old adage of pictures being worth 1000 words.
5. Unique or Interesting (a new take/perspective on an old or common topic/idea)
Just like story lines are packaged with new characters and settings but the same
conflict and resolution and presented as new, so are many ideas on the internet.
The key, when curating, is to find the information that is either repackaged in a new and useful way or be lucky enough to stumble across a gem that is truly unique or one of a kind. Lee (2016) provides some simple suggestions for what might make something a yes in this category. Perhaps it is “An amazing image or graphic” or it might be a “A fantastic quote” that stops us in our tracks, or even “an interesting statistic” that causes us to ponder something in a new way. Despite what it is that makes our content stand out or unique or interesting this is a necessary element of criteria as we are vested readers searching for such information and as Lee states (2016) “If it can’t hold your attention, it won’t hold the attention of a far less vested reader.”
6. Thematic (content connected by some sort of common denominator)
It may seem like a given that curated material would have a theme. We know
that the purpose of curation is to find and create a collection of like things when we are curating. This is often our first step and sets the direction for our future actions. However, choosing a theme is important beyond just navigating our search for content. As stated in (“What is Content Curation,” 2016) “theme is important because it has to appeal to your clients rather than you.” Thus, theme is an important criteria as it serves not only as a guide to focus the search for content but also as a success criteria to ensure we are best serving the client or audience we are curating for.
7. Add Value
Curating information is not just sharing a link when you find something you like. The information needs to bring value to you and to your audience. Pink (2017) suggests the following to add value to information curation:
8. Promote Collaboration
When selecting information, ask yourself, “Does it create engagement within my audience?” In education curation, enabling a space where students, educators, and parents all work together and learn is very powerful. You want your audience to be able to collaborate with the curation of your information (Pink, 2017).
9. Enables & Empowers
The information that is shared when curating should give learners a space that inspires them to continue learning (Pandey, 2017). When sharing information to an audience it should motivate them to begin initial exploration and then inspire them to continue learning.
10. Synchronized
“In this rapidly changing field, keeping curriculum relevant and synchronized with current research trends will be a persistent challenge,” (N.M Weber et al 2012). All of the curation that happens for a certain topic should be obviously synchronized with the purpose of curation. Everything must go together in some way, or the curation will become irrelevant. As mentioned early, relevancy is of extreme importance. By adding irrelevant material to a curation set, this can make viewers of the curation confused, and unfocused on the topic at hand.
11. Sustainable (does it have staying power?)
When curating one could find themselves drawn to the newest shiniest pieces of content available. However, if we do not ensure that the content that we are selecting meets the criteria of sustainability we may be including material that quickly fizzles or is disproven, discredited, or challenged in a way that could negatively affect us as curators. Therefore when searching through content it is advisable to, as Lee (2016) describes, “add them to your repertoire - eventually.” His reasoning for waiting on new resources or content is explained further by the fact that, “a site might look promising for a day or two though it takes at least two weeks before you know for sure if it deserves to be a place you visit every day.”
12. Archives
The act of curation is to preserve information and make it last for as long as it is relevant. Curation makes resources easier to find, and can be done in many ways. To make effective curation, one must remember that the goal is to make sure that relevant resources are something that can easily be found. “Data curation can be summarized as ‘the active and ongoing management of data through its life cycle of interest and usefulness to scholarship, science, and education’ (“Data Curation,” 2012, n.p.). (Mallon 2012). There are many tools that can help curators do this.
13. Be selective
Cohen reminds us that using an aggregator, there is no option for “making judgments based on cultural sensitivities, calendar milestones, political savvy, institutional knowledge, emotional value or messaging priorities. Only a person can do that. Shape those sensibilities into documented criteria that guide your curation efforts.” Use your abilities as a curator should supersede the information provided by an aggregator.
14. Ongoing
Curation is not a one time event. There needs to be an update of resources and information (Deshpande, 2016).
15. Validating
Look at the content you are curating as a whole. Is it representative of your perspective? Not only can curating validate what you know, it can also lead to new learning (Gerard, 2016).
References
Cohen, G. (5 June 2012). Guidelines for Smart Content Curation. Retrieved 26 June 2017 from http://meetcontent.com/blog/guidelines-for-smart-content-curation/
Coley , W. (2011, September 07). 10 Tips on Curating Social Media Content for Your Nonprofit or Foundation. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://aquifermedia.com/2011/09/06/10-tips-on-curating-social-media-content-for-your-nonprofit-or-foundation/#comment-88
Deshpande, P. (14 September 2016). The Definitive Guide to Content Curation. Retreived 26 June 2017 from http://www.curata.com/blog/the-definitive-guide-to-content-curation/
Gerard, M. (8 February 2016). 5 Things to Consider for Content Curation. Retrieved 26 June 2017 from https://blog.hootsuite.com/5-things-to-consider-for-content-curation/
Jeonghyun Kim, J. (2015). Competency-based Curriculum: An Effective Approach to Digital Curation Education. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 56(4), 283-297. Link.
Lee, K. (2016, November 16). How to Discover and Share the Very Best Content. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/content-curation
Loertscher, D. V., & Koechlin, C. (2016). Collection Development and Collaborative Connection Development: Or, Curation. Teacher Librarian, 43(4), 52-53. Link
Mallon, M. E. (January 01, 2012). Data Curation. Public Services Quarterly, 8, 4, 326-337.
link
Pandey, A. (April 11, 2017). Why you should use content curation to support your corporate training - 5 questions answered. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/use-content-curation-to-support-your-corporate-training-5-questions-answered.
Pink, A. (2017). Content curation for learning. Retrieved from https://anderspink.com/documents/AndersPink_Curation_Book.pdf.
Weber, N. M., Palmer, C. L., & Chao, T. C. (January 01, 2012). Current Trends and Future Directions in Data Curation Research and Education. Journal of Web Librarianship, 6, 4, 305-320. link
What is Content Curation and Why Do You Need It? - GetResponse Blog. (2017, April 28). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://blog.getresponse.com/what-is-content-curation-and-why-do-you-need-it.html
In addition to coming up with our list, we created a GoogleForm that makes it easy to 'check the boxes' and be sure that curated information is worth curating.
Here is a Link to curation criteria survey.
My partners and I were able to come up with the following criteria:
Becky
Josh
Ryann
Natalie
1. Target Audience
Choose an audience that you wish to speak to when you begin curating information. Different audiences have different needs so, “you need to understand what kind of content works best to help your specific audience succeed (Pink, 2017). If your aim is towards children or athletes or any other specific market, then your information needs to be directly connected to their wishes so you can support their learning.
2. Original/Authentic
“if you build it, they will ignore it for the most part. If they build it, they will use it,” (Loertscher & Koechlin 2016). Whatever it is that we curate, it is of the utmost importance that is something that our students will want to be a part of. Now, this is a difficult ideal to uphold, because we are the ones that are generally most interested in the digital artifacts and materials we collect. In this ideal world that this particular criteria lives in, it would be perfect if we immediately taught students to curate from the beginning, as that will provide them with some stake in the process. If they build it, they will use it.
3. Relevant
Keeping up to date with trends in education is difficult and a lot like trying to hit a fast paced object with a rock. What is curated digitally, will always be under a lense of scrutiny, as the future rushes toward us every single minute. The people we are curating information for need to have access to the most relevant pieces of knowledge available, as they will be using this knowledge in the work force. “...ongoing assessment is necessary to ensure that competencies reflected in the curriculum are up to date and relevant to job market needs,” (Kim 2015).
4. Diverse (incorporate a variety of media modalities)
The world we live in consists of a multitude of multimedia. The sources in which we gravitate towards for information depend largely upon our preferences, therefore it is imperative to incorporate a variety of mediums when creating a curation of a given topic. Coley (2011) states that blogs featuring only text are, “boring to the eye” and continues on with tips for the incorporation of visuals. This is expanded upon further when he encourages curators to, “Experiment with blog posts that are composed of audio clips, video, slideshows, infographics, graphic art, etc” With a goal of searching through the mass amounts of available product on the internet in hopes of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack there is a strong claim for emphasizing content that grabs our attention as Lee (2016) describes it, “it’s possible that a picture may catch your eye, rather than text itself.” Lending this ideal and criteria for curation to the old adage of pictures being worth 1000 words.
5. Unique or Interesting (a new take/perspective on an old or common topic/idea)
Just like story lines are packaged with new characters and settings but the same
conflict and resolution and presented as new, so are many ideas on the internet.
The key, when curating, is to find the information that is either repackaged in a new and useful way or be lucky enough to stumble across a gem that is truly unique or one of a kind. Lee (2016) provides some simple suggestions for what might make something a yes in this category. Perhaps it is “An amazing image or graphic” or it might be a “A fantastic quote” that stops us in our tracks, or even “an interesting statistic” that causes us to ponder something in a new way. Despite what it is that makes our content stand out or unique or interesting this is a necessary element of criteria as we are vested readers searching for such information and as Lee states (2016) “If it can’t hold your attention, it won’t hold the attention of a far less vested reader.”
6. Thematic (content connected by some sort of common denominator)
It may seem like a given that curated material would have a theme. We know
that the purpose of curation is to find and create a collection of like things when we are curating. This is often our first step and sets the direction for our future actions. However, choosing a theme is important beyond just navigating our search for content. As stated in (“What is Content Curation,” 2016) “theme is important because it has to appeal to your clients rather than you.” Thus, theme is an important criteria as it serves not only as a guide to focus the search for content but also as a success criteria to ensure we are best serving the client or audience we are curating for.
7. Add Value
Curating information is not just sharing a link when you find something you like. The information needs to bring value to you and to your audience. Pink (2017) suggests the following to add value to information curation:
- Hand Pick Key Articles
- This will maintain a working relationship with your audience and keep your information unique and diverse.
- This will maintain a working relationship with your audience and keep your information unique and diverse.
- Comment on Articles
- By inputting your own commentary, this will give your information a voice and can give the article more credit.
- By inputting your own commentary, this will give your information a voice and can give the article more credit.
- Mention People
- If there are specific people or groups of people who will benefit directly from the information, let them know that you have found it.
- If there are specific people or groups of people who will benefit directly from the information, let them know that you have found it.
- Save Articles to Lists
- By posting articles to specific titled and themed lists, people reviewing your information will be able to quickly find what is most important to them.
- By posting articles to specific titled and themed lists, people reviewing your information will be able to quickly find what is most important to them.
8. Promote Collaboration
When selecting information, ask yourself, “Does it create engagement within my audience?” In education curation, enabling a space where students, educators, and parents all work together and learn is very powerful. You want your audience to be able to collaborate with the curation of your information (Pink, 2017).
9. Enables & Empowers
The information that is shared when curating should give learners a space that inspires them to continue learning (Pandey, 2017). When sharing information to an audience it should motivate them to begin initial exploration and then inspire them to continue learning.
10. Synchronized
“In this rapidly changing field, keeping curriculum relevant and synchronized with current research trends will be a persistent challenge,” (N.M Weber et al 2012). All of the curation that happens for a certain topic should be obviously synchronized with the purpose of curation. Everything must go together in some way, or the curation will become irrelevant. As mentioned early, relevancy is of extreme importance. By adding irrelevant material to a curation set, this can make viewers of the curation confused, and unfocused on the topic at hand.
11. Sustainable (does it have staying power?)
When curating one could find themselves drawn to the newest shiniest pieces of content available. However, if we do not ensure that the content that we are selecting meets the criteria of sustainability we may be including material that quickly fizzles or is disproven, discredited, or challenged in a way that could negatively affect us as curators. Therefore when searching through content it is advisable to, as Lee (2016) describes, “add them to your repertoire - eventually.” His reasoning for waiting on new resources or content is explained further by the fact that, “a site might look promising for a day or two though it takes at least two weeks before you know for sure if it deserves to be a place you visit every day.”
12. Archives
The act of curation is to preserve information and make it last for as long as it is relevant. Curation makes resources easier to find, and can be done in many ways. To make effective curation, one must remember that the goal is to make sure that relevant resources are something that can easily be found. “Data curation can be summarized as ‘the active and ongoing management of data through its life cycle of interest and usefulness to scholarship, science, and education’ (“Data Curation,” 2012, n.p.). (Mallon 2012). There are many tools that can help curators do this.
13. Be selective
Cohen reminds us that using an aggregator, there is no option for “making judgments based on cultural sensitivities, calendar milestones, political savvy, institutional knowledge, emotional value or messaging priorities. Only a person can do that. Shape those sensibilities into documented criteria that guide your curation efforts.” Use your abilities as a curator should supersede the information provided by an aggregator.
14. Ongoing
Curation is not a one time event. There needs to be an update of resources and information (Deshpande, 2016).
15. Validating
Look at the content you are curating as a whole. Is it representative of your perspective? Not only can curating validate what you know, it can also lead to new learning (Gerard, 2016).
References
Cohen, G. (5 June 2012). Guidelines for Smart Content Curation. Retrieved 26 June 2017 from http://meetcontent.com/blog/guidelines-for-smart-content-curation/
Coley , W. (2011, September 07). 10 Tips on Curating Social Media Content for Your Nonprofit or Foundation. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://aquifermedia.com/2011/09/06/10-tips-on-curating-social-media-content-for-your-nonprofit-or-foundation/#comment-88
Deshpande, P. (14 September 2016). The Definitive Guide to Content Curation. Retreived 26 June 2017 from http://www.curata.com/blog/the-definitive-guide-to-content-curation/
Gerard, M. (8 February 2016). 5 Things to Consider for Content Curation. Retrieved 26 June 2017 from https://blog.hootsuite.com/5-things-to-consider-for-content-curation/
Jeonghyun Kim, J. (2015). Competency-based Curriculum: An Effective Approach to Digital Curation Education. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 56(4), 283-297. Link.
Lee, K. (2016, November 16). How to Discover and Share the Very Best Content. Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/content-curation
Loertscher, D. V., & Koechlin, C. (2016). Collection Development and Collaborative Connection Development: Or, Curation. Teacher Librarian, 43(4), 52-53. Link
Mallon, M. E. (January 01, 2012). Data Curation. Public Services Quarterly, 8, 4, 326-337.
link
Pandey, A. (April 11, 2017). Why you should use content curation to support your corporate training - 5 questions answered. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/use-content-curation-to-support-your-corporate-training-5-questions-answered.
Pink, A. (2017). Content curation for learning. Retrieved from https://anderspink.com/documents/AndersPink_Curation_Book.pdf.
Weber, N. M., Palmer, C. L., & Chao, T. C. (January 01, 2012). Current Trends and Future Directions in Data Curation Research and Education. Journal of Web Librarianship, 6, 4, 305-320. link
What is Content Curation and Why Do You Need It? - GetResponse Blog. (2017, April 28). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from https://blog.getresponse.com/what-is-content-curation-and-why-do-you-need-it.html
In addition to coming up with our list, we created a GoogleForm that makes it easy to 'check the boxes' and be sure that curated information is worth curating.
Here is a Link to curation criteria survey.