This week’s post I created a checklist that will be used to help create a quality curation content collection. This assignment was easier said than done due to the fact while researching I noticed a lot of sources included curation for marketing and business so finding the right focus was important. The idea of curation content is new to me, so while creating this list I tried to separate what I feel is important, and deserves to have a dedicated checklist step. This is what I came up with for meeting the curation content criteria.
Curation Criteria Checklist
- Expert Collector
Anyone can gather a collection of resources, but it is important that the resources do more than just meet the topic theme. You need to analyze how the resource is connected, and how can they assist in understanding the topic theme (White, 2012).
- Target Audience
When evaluating your resources you need to make sure it meets the needs of your audience. If you teach first graders you will probably want to avoid the college level resources. It is important to make sure the content is relevant to your audience before you share it, and is of high quality (Clark, 2018).
- Organize
All of your collected content and resources need to be sorted and organized to meet the context of your end goal. It should also be able to be viewed or accessed for the intended users. (White, 2012).
- Define Purpose
The resources and content need to have meaning to a specific purpose. “It has to support your organization’s communications objectives or your professional learning goals (Kanter, 2011).
- Add value
Add onto the resources you collected to give learners a different perspective or possible highlight important sections of focus, “add notes (annotations) or highlight sections with color for example. Diigo is a tool that offers these options. Learning often emerges as a result of the writing, rewriting and editing of this content” (Wheeler, 2013).
- Share with your peers
Social media platforms make sharing content with others extremely easy. Doing so allows you to help your peers and in return gives you access to millions of online tools and resources for use. Share only what matters. (Clark, 2018).
- Networking
Creating relationships with your peers that you get/share content with can help open the door to collaborating with important figures in your industry. “When helping others, others help you” (Clark, 2018).
- Cite sources
It should be expected that when you share curation content that it will be used by your peers. Therefore you should never pass off anything that was not created by you. Not only will citing your sources save you from legal troubles, but it will let your audience and peers know you are a professional, and trustworthy with other people’s content. (Cohen, 2012).
- Research materials
The content you collect should be researched to see if it is a reliable source to share. Even if it comes from a trustworthy source in your network you need to research if the information is current and reliable. The last thing you want to do is share false content with your name attached to it.
- Up to date
Not only does your content need to be up to date but the tools you use to share and collect need to follow suit. If you still use Myspace you may run into problems with reaching your audience. Using multiple platforms is suggested such as YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn (Clark, 2018).
- Navigation
How you arrange the content can make a big difference in the outcome. You need to determine the most effective way to put together your content collection. Chronological, historical, cultural or alphabetical sequence are common but you may also want to mix it up. Sometimes this step can be improved through the feedback you receive from your viewers. (Wheeler, 2013).
- Engaging
The content needs to gain attention and motivate the learners to learn. “Curate content with your audience in mind. Focus on their questions, their issues, and what they most value” (Deshpande, 2018).
- Value
You want the curation content to benefit the learners and leave them feeling satisfaction at the end. This will also increase the value of your collection to be shared with others. (White, 2012).
- Relevant
It is important that the content is relevant to the selected topic. That is why a good curation content creator only “shares the best and most relevant content on a particular topic” (Kanter, 2011).
- Validate
It is important to remember that once you share your curation collection the process is not over. Instead, you wait for the feedback from your peers and audience to see what works and what doesn’t. This feedback is valuable so you can go back and edit your collection for the better. The process is never-ending. (Deshpande, 2018)
References:
Clarke, T. (2018). The Complete Guide to Content Curation: Tools, Tips, Ideas. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation/
Cohen, G. (2012, June 5). Guidelines for Smart Content Curation. Retrieved from http://meetcontent.com/blog/guidelines-for-smart-content-curation/
Deshpande, P. (2018, August 31). Everything You Need to Know About Content Curation Retrieved from https://instapage.com/blog/what-is-content-curation
Kanter, B. (2011, October 11). Content Curation Premier. Retrieved from http://www.bethkanter.org/content-curation-101/
Wheeler, S. (2013, October 26). Get it together. Retrieved from
http://www.steve-wheeler.co.uk/2013/10/get-it-together.html
White, N. (2012, July 7). Understanding Content Curation. Retrieved from http://d20innovation.d20blogs.org/2012/07/07/understanding-content-curation/
Jake Dalton 