This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.
How many times have you tried to check a quick fact online and then lost an hour following links and checking unhelpful websites? The proliferation of paid search results and content mills makes it difficult to find what you want. Like traditional museum and gallery curators, digital curators acquire useful works and artifacts that fit into their collections. Influential tech evangelist Robert Scoble has said that content curation will be an essential 21st century digital skill.
Adding commentary in the form of occasional blog-type posts add value to your curated content by providing an editorial focus for your curated list. Commentary can come in the form of a response to one of the articles, a post that ties seemingly unrelated curated pieces together, or original research on the topic.
If you are uncomfortable writing original content or need extra practice, then check out the P2PU challenge Writing for the Web.
Most curation tools include features that let you write a post of original content, however, you could always write it as a Wordpress or Tumblr post and then curate it like any other post.
Paula at Curating Content for Online Education has suggested adding value to your curated content by critiquing the original post, contextualizing the original information by relating it to other posts, and expanding the idea of the original post by using it as a "jumping off" point to continue a conversation.
Write your first post as a statement of purpose and share it below.
example of a short statement of purpose: This site will curate content related to First Amendment Establishment Clause cases appearing before the Supreme Court of the United States. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Over time, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the clause has changed. In addition to current news stories, original court documents from Westlaw and historic legal journals will also be explored
The aim of my online collaborative creative writing project is to provide both writers and readers resources to enrich their knowledge and skills in this field as well as insight on great writer's workflow through such channels as BrainPicking by Maria Popova.
I did all this almost a month ago but didn't quite finish up the course. Don't see my original comment for this task however this is the link to the post I wrote that day when I started the new blog intended for my open education scribblings.
The editorial for my pearltree http://pear.ly/bN14T
is
Resources for secondary science teaching/learning at Keysborough Secondary College, with a focus on Victorian resources and the Australian curriculum. Pearls are divided into science topics, pedagogy, curriculum, research, useful technologies, webcraft, and citizen science and more.
I am currently developing my Pinterest boards and a blog. I am beginning to explore PearlTrees. As my journey continues, I will either commit to one of these platforms or continue to develop them all (in different ways?).
This board/blog is dedicated to curating content relating to technology in education. It will focus on the following tools, which I have in my classroom: 1:1 iPads, interactive whiteboard, projector, AppleTV, MacBook, two Apple desktop computers, and Inspire (Promethean's interactive presentation software). I will also focus on how these pieces of technology can be used for the specific courses that I teach, Spanish 1, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. I will include lesson plans that incorporate these features.
Although I'm using Instapaper and Delicious, I've decided to put the statement of purpose in Pearltrees (since it's going to be the main element for curating the topic I want to research). Here it is my statement of purpose:
"This pearl is dedicated to gather and curate different sources and contents related to the Tragedy of the Commons from a AI research perspective.
I have 2 wordpress websites and a twitter, pinterest account.
I shall critque images of fall along with commenting on each picture and the images may relate to each other.
Pinterest is great for big bold titles and small descriptions of images
I will be using my pinterest site and BagTheWeb for my presentation
as a start to my presentation:
"This presentation curates content regarding the best places to photograph fall foliage pictures in the northeast.
I have examined and found very colorful pictures from the northeast corner of the United States. I will give the names of towns and the names of landscapes such as bridges, backroads, landmarks, etc. In addition, I will list the best photographic supplies to bring with you on your travels, in order to take the best shots."
The context clues are nicely explained here. Certainly curation without any kind of value is no curation at all but a list of items.
Allow me to expand a bit about the value curation can add to information. What ways are there to “add value” when curating content? Besides comment, there are other activities, like relate, contextualize, expand, interpret, critique…
This is the ideal situation, sometimes you may not have the time or a certain piece of information may not appeal for an added value, and it’s also OK, I suppose, to aggregate a link.
I loved the example given of a short statement of purpose. I think I’ve tried to do the same for a Storify topic (http://storify.com/paula_ary/networking-to-learn), because I don’t see myself as having great writing skills - there are so many people who write so amazingly, that one feels that everything we might say is redundant.
Great suggestions on other ways to "add value."
I have a wordpress account and a pinterest account. I will be setting about expanding my out reach with both these pages and taking the writing for the web course.
Hello, Katiebelle63,
Pinterest is interesting to start using short comments or explanations about the images we pin. 
As a teacher of Art to second-level students (12-18 years) I will use my Pinterest site to gather together and curate images and videos around the styles of Art and famous artists that I will be teaching about.
As I can have more than one type of board for my Pins, I will also branch out into other areas of interest, such as ICT & videos on Education in general.
Fred.
Here's a draft statement of purpose:
A collection of practical tips for facilitating effective and enaging online discussions.
The purpose of this publication (Free Press Bible) is not to determine what you will keep in your collection. Rather it is to encourage you to personalize your collection with material regarded as valuable by you. The promotional publication debates are only an example of how collaborating with others can help in the creation of a rich and useful collection. Whether or not specific content is worthy of inclusion in the "promotional release" of Free Press Bible will be determined by public debate at freepressbible.createdebate.com. Evaluating the content of your own personal collection can be done in a manner of your choosing.
Here is the about page from blog where I curate content related to Godzilla, other big monsters, and geeky Japanese action shows.
In addition to the occasional Frequently Asked Questions and the Answers that I give my Family and Friends this blog is also where I curate content related to Daikaiju (big monsters) including the King of Monsters, Godzilla. I also branch out into tokusatsu (live action shows that usually feature superheroes) and Henshin (transformation, where a normal person changes into a hero).
