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Task: Hot Topic or Cabinet of Curiosities


Will you focus on a niche topic or make a broader collection of things that interest you?

 

The term "Curating" makes most people think of museums, but it may be valuable to think of curation in the terms of different metaphors. 

One way to look at curation, is to think of your curation platform as a scrapbook. The scissors on the Curator Badge represent the "clipping" of digital stories to your scrapbook. Stories can be news items, links to web pages, images, or any kind of content. 

Another way to look at Content Curation is to think of quilting. Alison Jean Cole said she thought of curation as a process like sewing. It is the Curator's task to "sew" together different stories, ideas, and images to make a new work.

What does a Curator need to do? Curators don't just collect links on their platform. Curators also Add Value to the stories they collect, and, most importantly, the give credit to the original content producers.

Quilt Museum

International Quilt Museum (CC BY-SA Maureen Ose) 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMn-cJHzF8A

Robert Scoble suggests that a new curator should focus on a niche, something very specific that no one else is doing like curating content about the pets that live at the White House. However, if you want more of the Cabinet of Curiosities feel, you can curate content from a broader theme. An example of a niche Hot Topic would be The Loch Ness Monster, a broader theme would be something like Unexplained Phenomenon (which would include Nessie as well as Bigfoot, Crop Circles, and Alien Abductions). 

For further information, you can check out Robin Good's Organizing and Curating Content on a Subject May Actually Be The Best Way To Learn It

What Topic or Theme would you like to curate? share in a comment below. 

Task Discussion


  • odonlife said:

    As a "new curator" I will take Mr. Scoble's advice and focus on a niche that I can master.  Putting personal interests aside, I would like to work towards compiling all the current and historic images of the University of South Florida (USF).  As the administrator of the USF repository my ultimate goal would be to ingest this content into our USF Historical Images Gallery, but even having links to all the available images would meet my goal.   Moving forward I would like to incorporate this curation into an active campus map.

    on Aug. 19, 2014, 12:45 p.m.
  • v4lent1na said:

    I curate content for a collaborative creative writing project.

    on Aug. 3, 2013, 4:09 p.m.
  • bxbx said:

    I curate content about China and (specifically) my city, Shanghai

    on July 25, 2013, 5:17 a.m.
  • Forsure Yunome said:

    I curate a fairly broad selection of personal interest topics via pearltrees.com.

    I'm going to incorporate proper attribution habits I hope to learn here at P2Pu into my 3 blogs and my pearltrees.

    on May 7, 2013, 5:25 a.m.
  • Sami_Sam_Sam said:

    Hi, everyone! I am a library science student who is interested in promoting higher quality service to underserved populations.

    I want to curate LGBT youth literature and resources for this course. 

    on May 6, 2013, 6:25 a.m.
  • Andy Crowe said:

    Hey,

    I'm a training teacher and I'm really interested in open education (like p2pu.org), but would like to work towards one day looking how open education and community education can come together.

    So I guess the cabinet would be Education, and the niche would be Open & Community driven education.

    Andy

    on Jan. 28, 2013, 1:58 a.m.
  • Leonie McGlashan said:

    I'm going to concentrate of gathering and ordering science education resources.

    on Jan. 23, 2013, 4:53 a.m.
  • Seinsch said:

    Hello,

    I work as a digital strategist (ad agency) and am increasingly interested in the battle over data & privacy.  While a hot topic in the news of late, I guess this fits the definition of Cabinet of Curiosities as it spans multiple social networks and may include viewpoints from users, brands and social media companies alike.

    Looking forward to co-learning with you!

    on Dec. 28, 2012, 12:29 a.m.
  • Jim K said:

    Hello

    Niche topic or broader interests.... Hmmm.

    I will probably revisit one of my Blogs on a niche topic and focus on that. There are of course links out to broader interests, but the links will not be a collection as such, just items I may reference in the topic.

    This is also for experiential learning. I develop eLearning resources, and this exercise will be putting myself in the seat of a person who uses learning resources and information in an educational environment.

    Flipboard looks interesting...   another item for me to explore......

    on Dec. 11, 2012, 10:17 p.m.
  • kgalls said:

    Hello!

    As a business owner, private tutor, classroom teacher of Math and Spanish, and the Technology Coordinator for my school, I am interested in technology in the classroomas a broad topic. As I narrow my topic, I realize my focus becomes the following: How can I optimize the technology I have in my classroom for the best student performace?

    The platforms that I plan to use are Pinterest and blogging.

    Thanks!

    on Nov. 25, 2012, 1:59 p.m.
  • Bea Peña said:

    Hi, my name is Beatriz. I´m from Spain.

    I am interested in curating about young contemporary literature. I work with teenagers and I want they become interested in reading and developing writing skills. 

     

    Regards,

     

    Bea.

    on Nov. 20, 2012, 6:54 a.m.
  • Natalie M said:

    I am interested in curation in general, as a concept and also in how the Internet is impacting the act of curation.

    I am interested in small space living - planning, space management, the psychology of it, etc, and will try using Pearltrees (a tool that is new to me). 

    on Nov. 8, 2012, 9:54 p.m.

    Luis said:

    Hi,

     

    From my experience with Pearltrees, it is just a different way to visualize a tree of bookmarks (folders and items). It allows you to put notes, images and write comments in each node. I think it is appealing from a esthetic point of view, but I don't see it adds much more functionality than delicious may offer. Maybe, if it allowed to create relations between nodes (so you can create arrows to relate elements and define these relations somehow) it could be more useful.

    Anyway, it's worth using it and see if it fits your needs.

    on Nov. 10, 2012, 5:12 p.m. in reply to Natalie M
  • Sheraz said:

    Hi my name is Sheraz and currently leading a community effort of curating content for a educational platform, Citelighter. Our content curators are responsible for sharing their knowledge and research on academic topics on our Knowledge Base. Also, learn more about the online curation landscape here

    on Nov. 5, 2012, 4:11 p.m.
  • Luis said:

    I would like to do some initial research around the topic of the Tragedy of the Commons, which I'm quite interested. I think I'll start using Evernote as the curating tool, although I'd like to try other ones, such as Pearltrees.

    on Oct. 30, 2012, 4:10 p.m.
  • firewire2879 said:

    information overload. finding a way to put it all together.

    I will pick a specific subject to curate either

    • spooky infrared photography (gothic black and white) fall is here or
    • retro video games of the 1980s ads, popular games, etc

    I will use either pininterest or scoop.it as my curate tools

    on Sept. 22, 2012, 2:59 a.m.
  • Susan McClements said:

    I teach computer applications at a high school in South Bend, Indiana. We are part of the New Tech Network of schools. All students have MacBook Pro laptops. This is our second year and I feel the need for the students to learn how to curate content and think deeply in their projects.  In this challange I will continue with the topics I'm interested in such as problem-based learning and educational technology. I also want to be able to help my fellow teachers learn how to become connected learners.

    @smcclements

    on Aug. 6, 2012, 8:43 p.m.
  • Thomas Ho said:

    I think I'll "step up" my EDUCATION curation efforts at my Facebook page...it's currently propelled by my "education" tag at Diigo

    on Aug. 6, 2012, 11:28 a.m.
  • MARIADELA ARAUJO said:

    Hi All!

     

    I'm a fashion designer so, i'm interested to research about fashion and curate content in my blogs about this topic.

     

    regards

    M.

    on July 30, 2012, 1:18 p.m.
  • catie said:

    Aloha everyone, 

    I would like to curate content about Monsanto's presence and network in Hawai'i.

    cat

    on July 24, 2012, 2:12 a.m.

    Christopher Crawford said:

    That would be pretty interesting, we had a large Monsanto manufacturing plant in my hometown- it was like  a seperate city. 

    on July 24, 2012, 8:34 a.m. in reply to catie
  • Casie said:

    Hi Everyone, 

    I'm  interested in curating information on early movement, kinesthletic learning and reading readiness for young children. As a gymnastics coach who is passionate about early movement for youth, I find there is much information out there for me to learn about as well as share with others.

    on July 17, 2012, 2:31 p.m.