Content Curation World

Steven Rosenbaum has an interesting article on Fast Company, outlining the reasons why curation is here to stay and the importance that curators will play in your information consumption diet.

He writes: "...So anyone who steps up and volunteers to curate in their area of knowledge and passion is taking on a Herculean task.

They're going to stand between the web and their readers, using all of the tools at their disposal to "listen" to the web, and then pull out of the data stream nuggets of wisdom, breaking news, important new voices, and other salient details.

It's real work, and requires a tireless commitment to being engaged and ready to rebroadcast timely material.

While there may be an economic benefit for being a "thought leader" and "trusted curator," it's not going to happen overnight.

Which is to say, being a superhero is often a thankless job.

The growth in content, both in terms of pure volume and the speed of publishing, has raised some questions about what best practices are in the curation space."

He also has some pretty straightforward advice on what, as a curator, you should never do:

"1. If you don't add context, or opinion, or voice and simply lift content, it's stealing.

2. If you don't provide attribution, and a link back to the source, it's stealing.

3. If you take a large portion of the original content, it's stealing.

4. If someone asks you not to curate their material, and you don't respect that request, it's stealing.

5. Respect published rights. If images don't allow creative commons use, reach out to the image creator--don't just grab it and ask questions later."

And he definitely has a point on all of these. 

Recommended. 7/10

Read the full article: http://www.fastcompany.com/1834177/content-curators-are-the-new-superheros-of-the-web?partner=rss