Are you a Content Curator?

A content curator is more than someone who re-posts links, quotes sources and aggregates content from feeds. A content curator uses their own passion for the topic to filter and give meaning to the content they select. They also add their own information and ideas to the updates.

I have worked as someone who collects content in several ways and methods: web directory editor, topic writer and group moderator. Each requires some aspects of content curating. Online content curators will not only present content but give it their own perspective and priorities. A content curator can shape public opinion with the choices they make, the content they choose to include or pass by.

The Economist: Meet the Curators
You might say that you don’t need to be a journalist to cobble together a list of links. But actually, given the huge proliferation of sources these days, you do. Being able to scan a vast range of material, determine what’s reliable, relevant and sufficiently objective, decide what will actually interest your particular readers and arrange it in a way that they can use are not trivial skills.

Social Media Today: Marketer, Media or Museum: The Content Curator

For Bloggers – A Cure for Writers Block
If you’ve thought about creating a blog but suffer from writer’s block, this concept is great news for you. You don’t necessarily have to become a star journalist overnight. Instead, start as a curator. Read all the blogs you can in your niche market, then sort and prioritize, hand-pick the best, and share them with your readers. A “Top 10 posts” on a particular topic makes a great blog post. Or, find a post that stands out for you and add your voice by sharing your reactions on your own blog (like I’m doing here!). Always link back to the original writer, of course, and invite feedback if you want to make it a dialog.

For Social Media Types – Sharing With Purpose
As a content curator, you don’t just share what seems interesting; you prune through the overload, find what’s most valuable to your audience, and share it – branded with your perspective. Make sure the content you’re sharing is consistent with the brand or image you want to convey — and that it feeds social media followers to related content on your blog or website. The idea is to share the right information at the right time, to the right people.

For Webmasters — Digital Assets That Drive Traffic and Conversions
A comprehensive content marketing strategy should have your company website at its center. A content curator will aggregate your company’s best digital assets for display, much like a museum curator creates a thoughtful exhibit to display historical or artistic artifacts.

Grow: Are Content Curators the power behind social media influence?
The Curators are the greatest consumers of content AND the greatest contributors—including sharing. That makes Curators a hub and the easiest users for marketers to reach. Curators, like me, are actively looking for information to share with others, and actively spreading the word. Content Curators are the best online friend a marketer could have!
In this new world, Curators become a commodity and they have value that will be sought after. Marketers will seek curators in specific topic areas and with specific traits. Marketers will want to know:

The topics this person curates. Curators specialize.

The networks and communities he/she curates to. Curators who are plugged into niche communities and forums may be even more valuable.

The number of connections on those networks. The volume or following always counts.

The types of connections the curator has. What’s the quantity of different types of social users following this curator: gamers, social butterflies, shoppers, deal seekers?

Reshare value. How many of this curator’s followers reshare the content, and how wide a net do they cast?

The click-through-rate for this curator’s content. How often do people open the items this curator shares?

The conversion rate resulting from this curator’s content. How often does a recommendation from this person generate sales? How often does a click through on a piece of content from this curator result in a sale?

Trainingwreck: Content Curators

The first skill or change to adapt to is to begin thinking this way from the beginning. As we all go about our day, and we inevitably come into contact with content, knowledge and wisdom that may benefit others, we need to begin thinking in a way that is selfless not selfish. We need to say to ourselves, “who may benefit from this as well?” Let’s think of this as the curate stage.

The second skill or change to adapt to concerns our ability to categorize and thus effectively store the knowledge somewhere. I liken this to an intricately interconnected network of universal personal content management systems. I’m not exactly clear how this can be accomplished, but think ‘dewey decimal system’ only individualized, personalized and capable of much more than surfacing links. It’s certainly supplementary and much more useful than Delicious or other bookmarking sites as well.

The final skill or change to adapt to is our ability to appropriately communicate the knowledge that has been curated and categorized itself. No, I’m not referring to email distribution lists. Whether through some digitally sewn quilt of RSS and other push-communication capabilities, the communication of this now categorized content is incredibly important.

Influential Marketing Blog: The Five Models of Content Curation
Aggregation – Aggregation is the act of curating the most relevant information about a particular topic into a single location. Often taking the form of catalog style blog posts which list “27 Great Resources For Small Business” (or similar aggregations), this is the most common form of content curation.

Distillation – Distillation is the act of curating information into a more simplistic format where only the most important or relevant ideas are shared. As a result, there may be quite a bit of additional content that is lost for the sake of simplicity – however the value comes from the fact that anyone digesting this content no longer has to contend with a high volume of content and can instead consume a more focused view of information.

Elevation – Elevation refers to curation with a mission of identifying a larger trend or insight from smaller daily musings posted online. Encompassing much of what many trend-focused websites do, this can be one of the hardest forms of content curation because it requires more expertise and analytical ability on the part of the person or organization during the curating. The benefit is that it can also be the most powerful in terms of sharing new ideas as well.

Mashup – Mashups are unique curated justapositions where merging existing content is used to create a new point of view. Taking multiple points of view on a particular issue and sharing it in a single location would be one example of this type of behaviour – and could be used to describe the sort of activity that takes place every day on Wikipedia. More broadly, mashups can offer a way of creating something new while still using content curation as a basis for it because you are building on existing content.

Chronology – Creating a Chronology is a form of curation that brings together historical information organized based on time to show an evolving understanding of a particular topic. Most useful when it comes to topics where understanding has shifted over time, this can be a powerful way of retelling history through informational artifacts that exist over time to prove how experiences and understandings have changed.

From a job posting for an Online Content Curator:

The ideal candidate:

is passionate about being part of the future web

has some tech background, including basic web development (but no serious dev chops required)

has the proven ability to write a snappy headline and coherent commentary – copy-writing experience a plus

is an online media consumer and is familiar with sites like Huffington Post and Daily Beast

adapts quickly to data and content management tools and interfaces

has some image editing experience

is moderately well-informed, from pop culture to global politics, from Kim Kardashian to Kim Jong Il

enjoys reading (and possibly writing) high-quality blogs

approaches repetitive tasks with “productive zen”

thinks about usability in a mobile context… and has an app for that

Attention Game Developers

My nephew and I were talking one day after school this week, we want a game that is a combination of StrongHold and Fallout. A game where the world has gone through an apocalypse and is being rebuilt. But rather than being just a basic shoot them all, we want it to include building towns, villages and be about gathering straggling civilization back into order again. We want to rebuild the world from it’s own ruins. A game where you gather resources, likely have to fight off other survivors and others who are rebuilding in their own way (possibly with a conflicting philosophy to our own).

Also, this game must be playable on the PC as well as PS3 and gaming media.

That is your challenge, game developing and designing people.

What would your ultimate game be if you were designing or developing a game of your own? A new board game, not a computer game at all? What would the rules be? Is it cutthroat or more about learning and building things?

So far the ultimate game to me has been Carmageddon. But, I also like Stronghold, Caeaser and it’s international variations, Civilization and The Sims. Others, but I can’t think of them right now. Mostly city building type games. I like the challenge of making it all work and then, if they dare to defy me, I kill them all. (End the game, quickly and not in a nice way).

Setting up a Home Office on the Cheap

Not everyone can decide to freelance write and then go out and buy up a storm. Likely those are very few and far between. So, for most of us we are looking for ways to cut corners without leaving out something or making ourselves feel we are second rate.

First, consider what you really need versus what it would be nice to have. You can always get those nice extras later, like when you have a first real profit to show for your efforts, buy something slightly extravagant for yourself then. Meanwhile, make a list and cross off those things you can treat yourself to later.

I think the main essential in the computer age, is a computer, printer and matching software. But, don’t think you must invest thousands of dollars. Try thrift stores, ask family for copies of software and look online for freeware. Word processing software comes with new computers, likely you have a CD with MS Word or Lotus Notes. I use Lotus Notes myself.

Although we tend to back away slowly from computers and other hardware at thrift stores you should take a look, try plugging it in, booting up and seeing how it runs and what’s been left in it from the last owner. Printers and scanners are especially cheap (and plentiful) at GoodWill. Thrift stores aren’t likely to let you return a computer but you can test drive it before buying. Also, consider your needs, if you’re just using a computer for word processing and email you can manage without a new, souped up one for gamers and hefty music/ movie downloads. Check the software bins too, you may be amazed at what you find. Make sure software is compatible with your computer and check how old it is. Some software will have free updates online but that won’t help you if it’s too ancient to run on your computer to begin with.

Beyond the computer situation you need basic office supplies and reference books. These are often found at thrift stores, second hand bookstores, flea markets, garage sales, library cast offs, family and friends and office supply stores going out of business, back to school sales in the Fall, etc. Beyond the standard dictionary and thesaurus look for books about writing including grammar, word usage, style guides, editing and publishing. See if you can find general reference books for fact checking and research.

You won’t need a lot of pens and paper with a computer. But, consider having some kind of file system, a way to keep organized with story ideas, story submissions, publishing contacts, invoicing and whatever you use for self promotion and marketing. Find a system for keeping everything organized and work on maintaining it.

Setting up a Home Office on the Cheap

International Wenches Guild

The International Wenches Guild is the brainchild of Lars Lunde (Official Guild Scribe) and Patti Falzarano (National Grande Madame); it began at the New York Renaissance Faire in the summer of 1995.

What began essentially as a local club intended to give some vague sense of order to the various wenches all over that Faire site rapidly turned into an organization stretching across North America, with a present membership of over 2000 women.

The Guild is not a political organization, due to the varied beliefs among our members. As a result, we avoid any volatile political topics, such as abortion, simply because we often have members on both sides of the argument and it would be unfair to rally the Guild for one side or the other. We do, however, hold certain beliefs that could be construed as political, such as an absolute abhorrence for domestic violence of any kind and a healthy respect for the environment and for all living things.

Membership in the Guild is open to all interested parties; we even boast a few men in our ranks. Membership includes a pewter pin with the Guild logo on it, a “License to Wench”e, a membership card, The Little Brown Book (soon going into its third printing and expanding into two volumes, the Official Guide and a separate songbook), a stack of regular “free kiss” cards and a stack of special “free kiss” cards. Men who think this idea is interesting but are wondering why there isn’t something similar for guys can contact our brother organization, The International Brotherhood of Rogues, Scoundrels and Cads. Men who are interested in more involvement with the Wench’s Guild can talk to any IWG member about getting nominated into the Loyal Order of Himbos.