# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Beyond finding out about the author and considering the basic citation information, it is very important to do more thorough critical thinking about any source you use in your research. For books, scan the Table of Contents and the Index to get a broad overview of the material covered. Note whether bibliographies are included. Read the chapters that specifically address your topic.

A very useful method of organizing your ideas about a source is to write a critical annotation of that source. An annotation is similar to an abstract, which is a brief summary of an article or book. While an abstract usually just provides a summary of what is included in a source, an annotation generally includes a critical evaluation of a source. Click here to see an example of an annotated bibliography.

To try to systematize the process of writing critical annotations, librarians at the McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire developed a series of questions to ask about any book, article or other publication that is to be critiqued. The questions (slightly revised) are listed below, followed by suggestions for how to answer each of the questions in order to evaluate different types of sources and to develop your own annotations.

These questions should be used as general guidelines in the process of analyzing a book, article or other work. It will not always be possible to answer all of these questions about a work. If the subject of the work is relatively new to you, it will be more difficult to answer some of the questions; but the process of trying to answer the questions should help you become more familiar with the subject. As you gain more background on the subject, you will increase your ability to critically evaluate writing on the the subject. Whether or not you can answer all of the questions, however, simply taking the time to think about each question for each book or article that you use in your research can be very helpful in developing your critical thinking skills in the research process.

1. What is the author's purpose for writing the work?
Gaining some information about an author's background can often shed some light on the author's motivation for writing a work. Although sometimes an author may purposely hide his reasons for writing something, usually authors will openly state their purpose. This will generally be presented within the first several paragraphs of an article. A book's preface or introduction, whether written by the author or not, will usually provide significant information not only on the book's purpose, but also on the author's background, point-of-view and how the book relates to similar works.

2. Who is the intended audience? Is it intended for the general public, scholars, policy makers, teachers, professionals, etc.? Is this reflected in the author's style of writing or presentation? How so?
The intended audience of a work is rarely stated explicitly, but it can usually be inferred from various clues. The purpose of a work may suggest a particular audience. Other evidence may be found in the writing style, use of jargon and footnotes. Use of a specialized vocabulary, such as medical or legal jargon, for example, would imply that the work is intended for medical or legal practitioners. Information about the periodical in which an article is published will provide a good indication of the audience for a specific article. As mentioned above, Magazines for Libraries (Ready Reference section: Z 6941 .K21 1995) is an excellent reference tool for finding basic descriptions of periodicals.

3. Does the author have a bias or make assumptions upon which the rationale of the work rests? Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda?
An author's point-of-view or bias may be his political orientation or a literary, artistic, scientific or other academic school of thought. Familiarity with the subject of a work is especially helpful in detecting an author's viewpoint. Background information about the author will often provide some evidence of his political perspective or school of thought. Understanding the author's purpose in writing the work will commonly suggest his bias on the subject. The perspective of an author may not always be detectable in his writing, but if it is possible to determine the point-of-view of a particular work, that information can be very helpful in understanding the work as a whole. Particular biases or perspectives should not be thought of as correct or incorrect, but as an important piece of data to be considered when analyzing the work.

It is not always easy to separate fact from opinion. Facts can usually be verified; opinions, though they may be based on factual information, evolve from the interpretation of facts. Skilled writers can make you think their interpretations are facts. Assumptions should be reasonable. Note errors or omissions.

4. What method of obtaining data or conducting research was employed by the author? Is the material primary or secondary in nature? Is the work based personal opinion or experience, interviews, library research, questionnaires, laboratory experiments, case studies, etc.? Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched, or is it questionable and unsupported by evidence?
The method of obtaining data or conducting research for a work will vary according to the type of work and the discipline. More popularly-oriented articles or books may simply be based on an author's personal opinion, first-hand experiences or on a limited amount of interviewing or library research. More academic works generally involve more extensive research. Depending on the discipline, data-collection techniques may include bibliographic research, laboratory experiments, textual analysis, surveys, empirical observation, etc. Most works use various combinations of techniques and the methods used are commonly specifically stated in the work.

Primary sources are the raw material of the research process. Secondary sources are based on primary sources. For example, if you were researching John F. Kennedy's role in the United States' involvement in Vietnam, Kennedy's own writings would be one of many primary sources available on this topic. Others might include relevant government documents and contemporary newspaper articles. Scholars use this primary material to help generate historical interpretations--a secondary source. Books, encyclopedia articles, and scholarly journal articles about Kennedy's role are considered secondary sources. Choose both primary and secondary sources when you have the opportunity.

5. What are the author's conclusions?
The conclusions of a particular work are usually relatively easy to find in a work. In articles, in particular, sentences or paragraphs near the end of the piece will often begin, "In conclusion," "In summary," or with some other explicit wording. Books often include a concluding chapter. Although the conclusions of a work are very important to consider, they should be thought of as one element in the overall analysis of a work.

6. Does the author satisfactorily justify the conclusions? Why or why not?
Determining how well an author justifies his conclusions can be quite difficult for those not very familiar with the subject of a work. For example, those more familiar with the subject area are more likely to recognize significant information that was not included in a work. In considering how well a work's conclusions are justified, it is usually helpful to think about the author's purpose, point-of-view, intended audience and methods of collecting data at the same time as analyzing the conclusions. The general question to ask is: Do the facts in the work fully support the conclusions? Some specific questions to consider about the work are: "Is it internally consistent and does the logic follow? Did the bias determine the method of data collection or the interpretation of the data collected? Was the method of data collection the best one for the original purpose?"

7. How does this work compare with similar works? Is it in tune with, or in opposition to, conventional wisdom, established scholarship, professional practice, government policy, etc.? Are there specific writings, schools of thoughts, philosophies, etc. with which this work agrees or disagrees?
Although knowledge of the discipline of a work is very helpful in determining how that work relates to the subject matter as a whole, authors often explicitly mention other writers with whom they agree or disagree. In addition, footnotes and bibliographies provide specific references which, in turn, can be researched for comparisons to the original work.

8. Are there significant attachments or appendixes, such as charts, maps, bibliographies, photos, documents, tests or questionnaires? If not, should there be?
Attachments, such as charts, maps, survey instruments, appendices or bibliographies, can provide important clarification or enhancement to the basic text of a work. Often, when specific data--such as survey responses or statistical data--is referred to in a work, the actual data may be included or summarized in an appendix. At the same time, the lack of certain supporting attachments may suggest a definite limitation in a work. Such supporting appendices should not be overlooked when evaluating a work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Beyond finding out about the author and considering the basic citation information, it is very important to do more thorough critical thinking about any source you use in your research. For books, scan the Table of Contents and the Index to get a broad overview of the material covered.

# data[].attributes.body
The annotations for your curated articles are somewhat similar to those included in an annotated bibliography. Here's a few refreshers on writing annotations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography provides a brief account of the available research on a given topic. It is a list of research sources that includes concise descriptions and evaluations of each source.

The annotation usually contains a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation. Depending on your assignment, you may be asked to reflect, summarise, critique, evaluate or analyse the source.

An annotated bibliography may be a component of a larger project or it may be a stand-alone assignment. While an annotation can be as brief as one sentence, the standard annotated bibliography consists of a citation followed by a short paragraph. An example is provided below.

Please note: the advice in this guide is general. We strongly recommend that you also follow your assignment instructions and seek clarification from your lecturer/tutor if needed.

Purpose of an annotated bibliography

When set as an assignment, an annotted bibliograpy allows you to get acquainted with the material available on a particular topic.

Depending on your specific assignment, an annotated bibliography might:

review the literature of a particular subject;

demonstrate the quality and depth of reading that you have done;

exemplify the scope of sources available-such as journals, books, web sites and magazine articles;

highlight sources that may be of interest to other readers and researchers;

explore and organise sources for further research.

Questions to consider

You need to consider carefully the texts that you select for your annotated bibliography. Keep the following questions in mind to help clarify your choices.

1. What topic/problem am I investigating?

2. What question(s) am I exploring? Identify the aim of your literature research.

3. What kind of material am I looking at and why? Am I looking for journal articles, reports, policies or primary historical data?

4. Am I being judicious in my selection of texts? Does each text relate to my research topic and assignment requirements?

5. What are the essential or key texts on my topic? Am I finding them? Are the sources valuable or often referred to in other texts?

Which writing style should I use in the annotations?

Each annotation should be concise. Do not write too much-remember, you are writing a summary, not an essay. Annotations should not extend beyond one paragraph unless otherwise stipulated in your assignment guidelines. As this is not an extended piece of writing, only mention significant and relevant details.

Any information apparent in the title of the text or journal can be omitted from the annotation.

Background materials and references to previous work by the same author usually are not included. As you are addressing one text at a time, there is no need to cross reference or use in-text citations to support your annotation.

Unless otherwise stipulated, you should write in full sentences using academic vocabulary.

What does an annotated bibliography look like?

An annotated bibliography starts with the bibliographic details of a source (the citation) followed by a brief annotation.

As with a normal reference list or bibliography, an annotated bibliography is usually arranged alphabetically according to the author's last name. An annotated bibliography summary should be about 100 - 200 words per citation-check with your lecturer/tutor as this may vary between faculties and assessments. Please also check with your lecturer about the elements each annotation should include.

Contents of an annotated bibliography

An annotation may contain all or part of the following elements depending on the word limit and the content of the sources you are examining.

Provide the full bibliographic citation.

Indicate the background of the author(s).

Indicate the content or scope of the text.

Outline the main argument.

Indicate the intended audience.

Identify the research methods if applicable.

Identify any conclusions made by the author/s.

Discuss the reliability of the text.

Highlight any special features of the text that were unique or helpful e.g. charts, graphs etc.

Discuss the relevance or usefulness of the text for your research.

Point out in what way the text relates to themes or concepts in your course.

State the strengths and limitations of the text.

Present your view or reaction to the text.

Sample annotation

The citation goes first and is followed by the annotation. Make sure that you follow your faculty's preferred citation style. The summary needs to be concise. Please note the following example is entirely fictitious.

In the sample annotation below, each element is numbered (see Key).

(1) Trevor, C.O., Lansford, B. and Black, J.W., 2004, 'Employee turnover and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion', Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol 113, no.1, pp. 56-64.

(2) In this article Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect to job performance, turnover rates and employee motivation.(3) The authors use data gained through organisational surveys of blue-chip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main causes of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth.(4) Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organisational reward schemes.(5) The article is useful to my research topic, as Trevor et al. suggest that there are numerous reasons for employee turnover and variances in employee motivation and performance.(6) The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management,(7) thus the authors indicate that further, more extensive, research needs to be undertaken to develop a more in-depth understanding of employee turnover and job performance.(8) This article will not form the basis of my research; however it will be useful supplementary information for my research on pay structures.

Key

(1) Citation

(2) Introduction

(3) Aims & Research methods

(5) Usefulness (to your research/ to a particular topic)

(6) Limitations

(7) Conclusions

(8) Reflection (explain how this work illuminates your topic or how it will fit in with your research)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An annotated bibliography provides a brief account of the available research on a given topic. It is a list of research sources that includes concise descriptions and evaluations of each source. The annotation usually contains a brief summary of content and a short analysis or evaluation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Overview
Organization starts in the mind. When we develop a sense of order in our minds and apply it to the world, we organize. Interestingly, our sense of order has predictable attributes. The first pair of attributes describes perspective, which can be subjective or objective. The second pair of attributes determine if we organize into two groups or many groups. A perspective combined with the ability to form groups is called a filter. Our two perspectives-objectivity and subjectivity-when combined with our ability form groups-two groups and many groups-reveal four fundamental filter types: sorting, categorizing, branding, and curating. These four filters are the fundamental ways we organize content and are revealed by The Content Filter Framework.

Sorting
You must be "this tall" to ride-no shoes, no service-needle in a haystack-wheat from the chaff; each of these phrases imply sorting. Without the ability to sort we would eat food that is both fresh and rotten, scald ourselves on stove-tops that are both on and off, and sit on park benches with paint that is both wet and dry: We simply couldn't sort them out.

Sorting is an objective filter that yields 2 groups, like an "in" and an "out" group. For example, you could sort a collection of paintings based on the objective measurement of 20 inches. If a painting's width is greater than 20 inches it would be "in" while all narrower paintings are "out". Because the filter criteria is objectively measurable-20 inches-there is a right and wrong way to sort.

Categorizing
A place for everything and everything in its place-Is it vegetable, mineral, or animal? What industry do you work in? These expressions rely on categorizing. Without the ability to categorize, our world would be chaotic as simple concepts like putting things away or alphabetizing cease to function.

Categorizing is an objective filter that yields 3 or more groups of content, akin to the phrase "this, that, and the other thing". Considering the same paintings as before, you could categorize them based on their medium type, such as "oil" and "acrylic". If a painting is oil based, it would fall into the "oil" category and if it's "acrylic" based, it would fall into the "acrylic" category. All other medium types, like watercolor, ink, or pastels could be "other". Because the filter is objectively measurable-medium type-categorization lends itself to right and wrong answers.

Editorial & Branding
All the news that's fit to print-family friendly entertainment-the ultimate driving machine; these are examples of editorial & branding. Without them, all the media you consume and every purchase you make may not be of good quality. Imagine buying tomato soup from a bare, silver can with "tomato soup" written on it with a Sharpie. Would it be safe to eat? Would it be tasty? Would one can of soup taste the same as the next? Absent a brand, such as Campbell's, you can't be sure what you will get. A brand sets an expectation of quality, like an editor at a newspaper. Soup buyers rely on the Campbell's brand to only sell soup that meets their standard. And while Campbell's standards may not meet your own, that would be a subjective difference in opinion.

Editorial & branding is a subjective filter that yields 2 groups of content-an "in" and an "out" group. Because the filter is subjective, it requires the "human element" of emotion, creativity, imagination, and culture, to name a few. For example, consider a museum with the mission to display important paintings, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). If given the opportunity to display the Mona Lisa on loan, the MET would jump at the chance while, if given the opportunity to display a Power Puff Girls portrait, they may consider it insignificant. If the brand, however, is not the MET, but rather the Cartoon Network (CN), then the CN may arrive at the opposite conclusion and consider the Power Puff Girls portrait a great addition and the Mona Lisa irrelevant. It's possible for two brands to have an identical mission, to "display important paintings", but because "important" is subjective, the brand yields different results.

Curating
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder-one man's trash is another man's treasure-that's not my cup of tea; these phrases rely on the concept of curation. Without curation, we lose the ability to find content interesting, attractive, and likable in different ways. It allows us to avoid a "police state" of preferences where everything is either "good" or "bad".

Curating is a subjective filter that yields 3 or more groups of content. Like the branding filter, curation is subjective and requires the "human element". Unlike branding, curation acknowledges that people appreciate content in complex ways. For example, someone may want to collect paintings in meaningful ways. The Mona Lisa may be put into a collection of "classic" paintings while the Power Puff Girls portrait is arranged with "happy" art. One could imagine a collection called "painted women" that includes both the Mona Lisa and the Power Puff Girls, or a collection called "modern art" that includes neither. Existing outside the rigid confines of "good" or "bad", the curation filter groups content in complex ways that resonate with people. Like our ancestors who collected beautiful, useful, and fashionable shells, so we curate collections in meaningful ways.

Image Credit: the picture of the four buttons on the homepage leading to this article was made by Megan Gouws .

Tags branding categorizing content filter framework curating filter filter typology objective sorting subjective

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Content Filter Framework - Steffon Davis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Overview Organization starts in the mind. When we develop a sense of order in our minds and apply it to the world, we organize. Interestingly, our sense of order has predictable attributes. The first pair of attributes describes perspective, which can be subjective or objective.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Who has a busy life? I know I do. In fact, almost everyone I know does. Juggling family, work, study, all the household chores and trying to squeeze in a life as well - this seems to describe everyone in 2017.

As a PhD student and educator, I spend a lot of time online - researching, reading articles, connecting with others on Twitter and (yes, I admit it!) admiring pretty pictures of yummy food on Pinterest. One thing that happens to me all the time is that I only find the best article, the most interesting infographic or the yummiest recipe when I am in the middle of something else, and I really have no time! I'm busy! And so, I save it for later. I will pin it, or favourite it, or email it to myself. Of course, later never comes - and I have loads of unread emails, lists of links and hundreds of bookmarks that I honestly know I will never come back to - and really, do I need to? After all, I have great searching skills. Surely if I've discovered it once, I can find it again if and when I want it? And thus the question: is it better to save it for later, or to let it flow past me, trusting that I will find what I need, when I need it?

Despite the hundreds of unread, unloved 'saves' that I have made in my lifetime, I am still convinced that it is worth it. Even though I have confidence in my searching skills, I still don't take chances when it comes to finding things again online - here's a few reasons why.

Firstly,

the internet these days is very big - and a lot of the content on the internet is user-created. This is one of the reasons I love the internet so much - rather than only being able to access information from officially sanctioned (published) voices, we can now access content and information created and shared by anyone with an internet connection. While this has led to a lot of rubbish online, it also means we have more to learn from than ever before. However, this also means that the item you have discovered may not have any useful metadata attached to it.

Metadata is the information about information that makes it easy to search for and find. When content is officially published, details such as the title, author's name, subject headings, ISBN etc (i.e. the metadata) are attached - either printed on the item or electronically attached. User created content may not have this type of metadata, and if it does, it might not be meaningful for searching. It might be a photograph with no title, a recipe for Chilli that someone has shared on Tumblr with the hashtags #yummy' and #dinner next Monday' or a blog with a long, obscure or unrelated name. So much great stuff is, I am sure, buried, nameless, published only in a Facebook post, and shared on Diigo with a completely irrelevant tag (like 'this is good' or 'idea for next week'). Searching for these things can be almost impossible, especially if you are looking for that particular piece of content (say that one random blog post you read 4 months ago, or that vegan chilli recipe with no tomatoes) because even if you use a super search string like "yummy chilli" -tomatoes odds are, it will be lost deep on the millionth page of Google.

Secondly,

a lot of great stuff that we discover online is completely through serendipity, and while effective searching will return a lot of content, Google will simply not find everything. You may be searching for an item that is sitting somewhere Google doesn't access - not only lots of social media content but also sites that require a login, like a journal database or library catalogue. You may have seen it once - briefly appearing on your Twitter stream, perhaps when the author published it - but this is the only time you will see it unless you go directly back to that source. Saving things when you see them can be well worth the time required to click 'save to Pocket' or 'send to G Drive'. Even if you can't link directly to the source within the database, linking to the Paywall gives you enough information to access it again if you decide that you really need it.

Collection or Curation?

However; there is a reason I called this post 'digital content curation in a busy life' and not 'saving stuff for later is good'. The thing is, simply pinning or bookmarking 'for later' is not digital content curation - it is collecting. We need to consider the difference between digital content curation and collecting, and keep this front of mind when online.

Digital content curation is what we should do when we find something really good. Digital content curation goes beyond a simple save. It is when we strategically select an item to be added to a collection, which is being compiled for a specific purpose. Collecting is additive, but interestingly, curation is subtractive - what you leave out is almost more important than what you include. A great way to think about collection and curation described by Frank Chimero in his post about sorting a mass. Consider collection as a bowl of loose pearls, and curation as a pearl necklace. Collection is like a bowl of pearls in that the individual pearls may be of great value, but they are pretty useless, just gathered together in the bowl. Curation iswhat happens when particular pearls are selected from the bowl, and strung into a beautiful necklace. The pearls now have purpose - they have been carefully selected and added to the necklace in a particular order. The necklace, which has fewer pearls than in the bowl, but which can be publicly admired and worn, is worth more than the sum of its parts.

When we curate content, we add an annotation to each item, to explain to others why this piece was chosen, and how it fits within the collection. This makes the individual items more meaningful for others, and brings to collection together as a whole resource. As you can see, digital content curation is time-consuming. So why, in a post about busy people, would I be extolling the benefits of digital content curation?

First: it does not replace the simple save.

Digital content curation is a purposeful act which takes time. So it is important to still quickly 'save' stuff when we see it. However, if you go back through your saves, and see something that is really good, that would add to a collection you are already curating or would springboard a curated collection, definitely take the time to move it out of your 'collection' and into your curated resources.

Second:digital content curation creates a resource for you and others

When you have a collection of random links, the individual items may be useful, but the list itself means nothing. A carefully curated collection is a resource that stands alone. It can be useful to you - when you go back to these resources, your annotation will remind you of why you saved it and how it will be useful - and it will be of value to others if they are seeking an overview/introduction/entry into a topic. Creating a curated collection also makes a group of resources easily shareable and useable - it will 'travel' with you as it will (more often than not) exist online, and be publicly accessible to you and others whenever you need it.

Third: a curated collection is worth the time and may eventually save time

A curated collection will take time. However it is far more likely that you will go back to a collection which has been carefully created than you ever will to a random link you saved and emailed to yourself six months ago. Also, just as you invest time in developing curated collections, so too do others. Seeking out others' curated collections can be a fantastic way to begin a search journey. People don't (usually) curate items of poor quality - that would be a waste of time! And so when you discover a curated collection of information or resources, you are more likely to have discovered something of value - which can be a greater time-saver than simply searching, and having to evaluate each item yourself. Caution though! Just because someone has curated something doesn't mean it is completely accurate/reliable/valid for your purposes - but the chances of higher quality are greater.

So the role of digital content curation in a busy life is to take back some control over infowhelm and content chaos. Knowing that you have carefully curated collections can be comforting, particularly in areas where you work extensively or are continually referring to and developing ideas. Maybe it is because I'm a librarian at heart, but I really love curating. I don't always do it well, and I don't always have the time to go beyond the save, but when I am working on a project or researching a topic, going to the effort of creating a resource that I know will support my work is satisfying and rewarding. It's like comfort food for the learner's soul.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The role of digital content curation in a busy life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Who has a busy life? I know I do. In fact, almost everyone I know does. Juggling family, work, study, all the household chores and trying to squeeze in a life as well - this seems to describe everyone in 2017.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I was fortunate to be able to share my thoughts on how digital content curation may be implemented as a powerful pedagogical approach in the latest issue of SCIS Connections.

In my article, which you can go directly to by following this link, you can read all about how to embed content curation into teaching, to enhance and expand students' digital literacy capabilities.

To accompany this article I have also curated a collection of resources which complement and expand upon the themes in the article. You can check this out here:

I have also created a more detailed version of the image presented in the article, which contains a little more explanation on the different levels of content curation; view below. Click here to download a high quality printable PDF version.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Digital Content Curation as a Pedagogical Approach

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I was fortunate to be able to share my thoughts on how digital content curation may be implemented as a powerful pedagogical approach in the latest issue of SCIS Connections. In my article, which you can go directly to by following this link, you can read all about how to embed content curation into teaching, to enhance and expand students' digital literacy capabilities.

# data[].attributes.body
A clear overview and useful list of curation tools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Topics covered in this lesson*:

What is Digital Curation

The value of digital curation for you and your students

Selection of digital curation tools to explore

* Remember you don't have to explore everything in this lesson. Pick what interests you most.
INTRODUCTION

What is digital curation? Traditionally, we think of a curator as someone who selects objects, interprets context and manages collections in a museum. But it also describes what librarians do with their collections, aka: collection development. It's also what teachers do when they select resources for classroom projects. And it's a skill that can be used to help students develop their critical thinking abilities.

So why the explosion of interest in digital curation? With a mind-boggling amount of content on the Internet, content that varies enormously in quality, there's huge value in relying on experts to select the best content for a topic. And with that need, many new tools have been developed to make it easy for anyone to select, collect and share their own collections of digital resources.

Ironically, this hearkens back to early days of the web, when we had easy-to-use directories of good resources that were curated for us. Anyone remember Yahoo's Subject Directory? OpenDirectory? And even earlier, the InfoSlug directory of resources in Gopher servers.

Curating vs Dumping! These days anyone can easily be a curator, the challenge is to be a good curator! Dumping links into an electronic "bucket" isn't really curating, though it may be a valuable first step to growing a curated collection. For example, I collect lots of links to articles and resources that might be useful for future updates to this Cool Tools workshop. My raw collections are disorganized and full of things that won't make the cut for the workshop. But they're my starting point for selecting what will make it into the workshop lessons. This terrific article by Jennifer Gonzalez speaks to this point, Are You a Curator or a Dumper?

SOME BACKGROUND READING

These are quick reads and will get you up to speed on the why curation is important, both for you professionally and as a skill to teach students.

USES IN SCHOOLS

Sharing Your Know-How: No one can be an expert on everything, but we all have things that we're passionate about and perhaps even are experts in. If we create collections of the best resources on those topics, share them and maintain them, then everyone can benefit from our expertise. This is also a great way to share information about what's going on in the school with parents and other educators.

Open Educational Resources: As the use of Open Educational Resources grows, curation takes on an even larger role. To quote Joyce Valenza: "The opportunity, especially for school libraries with little or no budgets, is to leverage this free content to promote access and equity, to create new user-friendly collections, and to embed the best into instruction school-wide." Want to know more about OER? We have a lesson on that!

Digging for Gold: You may not feel like creating collections of resources yet, but you can still benefit from these services. They are goldmines of great material. If you find an expert in an area you're interested in, then you can follow what they're curating. They're filtering out the dreck for you and sharing the most valuable resources.

Student Use: Students can gather materials for research, create bibliographies, create collections of news articles around a topic, collect graphics for art projects, and so much more. Curating a collection of resources in response to an assignment requires higher order thinking skills to assess the value of material and to describe the importance of an item.

Essential Skills: Students learn essential literacy skills when curating content: how to search for and evaluate resources, how to organize and create a balanced collection, reflecting multiple points of view. Check out this excellent handout on Building Link Collections to help students learn these skills. From the article Teaching Kids to Curate Content Collections.

TYPES OF TOOLS

Social Bookmarking: Diigo is a popular tool for collecting and organizing links to web resources. With Diigo you can save links to your favorite web sites, add notes and tags to help describe them and improve findability. It also includes a variety of social features that let us share our bookmarked resources with others. And Diigo has collaborative feature than can be useful for groups sharing resources. It doesn't present your collections in a particularly attractive way though.

Many Digital Curation tools are geared for presenting your collections in a graphically appealing layout that can easily be shared with others. Most let the you add notes to explain context, offer opinions and ask questions. These collections can be great resources for discovering and keeping up with information. And they're great tools for students gathering resources for research projects. Students can gather information, write notes and reflections on the material, share information in groups. At the same time, teachers can be following along and participating as needed. A curated collection with reflections and observations is also a way to present a final project. Some tools in this category include: LibGuides, Symbaloo, elink.io, EdShelf and Pinterest. How to Curate Like a Rockstar is a short slidedeck that would be great for teaching students how to curate.

Real Time Content Aggregators: These tools take quite a different spin on curation. They use the social media, blog, news, etc. sources and topics that you specify and present you with a selection of materials from those sources. Tools like paper.li & Nuzzel scan your Twitter stream and other social media streams and produce a selection of the most popular articles mentioned by the people you follow. Nuzzel helps you create a daily newsletter of your favorite articles that you can share with others. Other tools in this category include: Flipboard and AndersPink.

This is a small selection of some popular tools. Explore one of the following tools, tools mentioned above or any other curation tool that you're interested in.

: Diigo has a bit more of a learning curve, but that's because there are so many features. To be honest, I haven't explored them all! Like many tools, you can add a browser extension or a bookmarklet to your browser toolbar to quickly add sites to your account. One of the most useful features here is the Groups feature.

PINTEREST: An excuse to play with Pinterest! Visually appealing, Pinterest is tons of fun and is a great way to create a collection of resources to share with students and staff. Basically it's like an old fashioned bulletin board where you pin photos of things you want to do, places you want to go, books to read, etc. Users create boards on whatever topics they're interested in and when they find a great resource, recipe, book, craft idea, etc., they click on the Pin-It button/extension on their browser toolbar to add it to their boards. To discover new content, you choose to follow other people's boards. Pinterest has good search features to find content from all users. Check out 14 Ways Students Can Use Pinterest in the Classroom for some interesting ways to use Pinterest with students.

Makes attractive pages to share your content. Collection feature to organize content and share it. Collections can be embedded on other webpages. For example, our WAKELET: A newish curation tool that is currently free. Cool Tools MORE TO EXPLORE pages are created with embedded Wakelet collections. Whenever I add a new resource to a Wakelet collection, it automatically appears on the correct MORE TO EXPLORE page. Web, iOS and Android apps.

ELINK - Another free tool that creates attractive collection pages that can be embedded on a website or linked to directly for sharing. The paid Pro version has an option to send out your collection as a newsletter. Free account has a variety of layouts and display options. Also has browser addons to quickly add resources to your collections. Free account has advertising on the collection pages.

PADLET* - Padlet can be used for many purposes and curation is one of them. Add the Padlet browser addon to quickly add content to your Padlet pages. With a free account you can create 3 Padlet pages. There are multiple ways to arrange the content on the page. Collaboration features include the ability to leave comments, vote and rate content, add contributors and let them add content. Pro (paid) accounts have features for managing student accounts. (*Referral link)

SCOOPIT: This service has been very popular, but unfortunately has discontinued their educational discounts and has limited their free version. Still, take a look, there are tons of great Scoopit collections curated by experts that are well worth following.

Scoopit pages are collections of short previews of articles and resources. Anyone can create a Scoop on any topic and start adding content, though the free version only allows for 1 collection now.

A browser bookmarklet lets you easily add articles directly from the web. Topics that are particularly well-curated will attract followers who will come to rely on you to select the best content in a timely manner. Sound a bit like a newspaper or magazine?

As Joyce Valenza talks about in Curation is the New Search Tool, curation services are terrific places to turn to when searching for content and an opportunity to hone evaluation skills.

Examples

LIBGUIDES: This is a very popular service with schools and colleges. The service isn't free, but it is being offered to many schools around through consortium purchasing. Check with your regional School Library System to see if you have access to it. It provides a framework for creating guides to resources and makes it simple to reuse content across multiple guides.

To get an idea of the range of possibilities check out:

- As a real-time news aggregation tool, it pulls in the latest, popular content from your twitter stream. Good way to monitor twitter without ever visiting your twitter account. As a curation tool, Nuzzel helps you create a daily newsletter with articles and posts that you select from any source you like. If you don't have time everyday, Nuzzel will create a newsletter for you with content from your twitter friends. Or you can turn that option off. Send a weekly newsletter if you prefer. People can subscribe and get your updates in their email. Examples: Polly's Newsletter, Tony Vincent's newsletter

PAPER.LI: Once you've set up your account, this service does all the work for you and produces a daily newspaper of content based on the sources you've selected in the setup process.

If you're interested in following the articles and resources being discussed using the #tlchat hashtag on twitter, you can set up a Paper.li that pulls just that content.

Or you could include particular individuals, groups of people or everyone you follow on twitter.

Some popular Paper.li's to check out include: #tlchat and #edchat.

More education related paper.li pages.

Joyce Valenza talks about using paper.li with her students in The Kids are Curating.

LEARNING ACTIVITY
Activities

1. Read an article or two about curation - either from the sources in this lesson or find something new and share it with us.

2. Options

Pick at least one curation tool that is new to you and create a small collection on a favorite topic, your favorite apps, tools for your classroom, resources for a lesson, etc. You choose!

Or dig deeper into a tool you already use and explore new aspects of it.

Your Blog Post

Reflect on your readings and share your experiences and ideas about the tools you explored. How could they help you professionally? Personally? How might you use them with your students?

Share the collection you created. Either link to it or embed it in your blog post if that's possible.

*TURNING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Write & publish your blog post.

Copy the URL (webpage address) for your post.

Return to your Google Classroom, find the assignment page for the lesson you just completed and follow the directions for turning in and sharing your work.

*Only for students participating in the workshop for PD credit hours through the Google Classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Thing 8: Digital Curation Tools - Cool Tools for School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Topics covered in this lesson*: What is Digital Curation The value of digital curation for you and your students Selection of digital curation tools to explore * Remember you don't have to explore everything in this lesson. Pick what interests you most. INTRODUCTION What is digital curation?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme. The work involves sifting, sorting, arranging, and publishing information. A content curator cherry picks the best content that is important and relevant to share with their community. It isn't unlike what a museum curator does to produce an exhibition: They identify the theme, they provide the context, they decide which paintings to hang on the wall, how they should be annotated, and how they should be displayed for the public.

Content curation is not about collecting links or being an information pack rat, it is more about putting them into a context with organization, annotation, and presentation. Content curators provide a customized, vetted selection of the best and most relevant resources on a very specific topic or theme. As Rohit Bhargava points out in this post via Robin Good, a content curator continually seeks, makes sense of, and shares the best and most relevant content on a particular topic online. Content curators have integrated this skill into their daily routine.

Why is Content Curation Valuable?

People and organizations are now making and sharing media and content all over the social web. For example, on Facebook the average user creates 90 pieces of content each month. If you multiply that by the 800 million Facebook users, it isn't surprising that data or content on the Internet is measured in exabytes, or billions of gigabytes. Simply put, we are living an era of content abundance. A content curator offers high value to anyone looking for quality content because finding that information (and making sense of it) requires more and more time, attention, and focus.
Content Curation Provides Value from the Inside Out
What does that mean for nonprofits and the people who work for them? I think there are many benefits for both individuals as well as the organization.

For some staff members, content curation can be professional of learning. Professional development used to be about getting trained or acquiring a specific skill. But, with so much information available and coming at us from many sources, we often don't know if it's the right information or if it's current. And depending on our field, it can get out of date quickly. In today's world of content abundance, the skill of how to find, make sense, and share content that we need to be effective in our work is critical. Simply put, being a content curator is a method to help you stay informed about your field and be more effective at your job.

The biggest challenge to becoming a content curator is getting past the feeling of " content fried" or so much good content and so little time to digest it. There are techniques that we can use to minimize feeling distracted and with some discipline make it of our work flow.

For organizations and brands, content curation can help establish the organization's thought leadership and capture attention in today's information cluttered world. Content curation can help your organization become the go-to authority on an issue or topic area. It can be done as simply as writing a blog post with links or sharing annotated links on Twitter around your topic. Take for example, how Bruce Lesley from First Focus uses Twitter to establish authority as a content curator on children welfare issues.

The key principles of content content creation for a brand are outlined in this article " Become A Content Curation King " - what is most important for nonprofits that want to get started is consistency, knowing your audience, and identifying your topical niche. It is also important to understand that content curation is NOT just about information, it is about feeding and tuning your network as Howard Rheingold notes.
The Three S's of Content Curation: Seek, Sense, Share
Content curation is a three-part process: Seek, Sense, and Share. Finding the information or "seeking" is only one third of the task as Mari Smith points out in this video about why curation is important and some tools for doing it. Making sense of the information is just as important. Sense making can be a simple as how you annotate the links your share, the presentation, or what you've left out. Sense making can be writing a blog post using the links (like this post) or summarizing the key points in a presentation. However you create meaning, but it has to support your organization's communications objectives or your professional learning goals. Finally, the sharing - is about giving the best nuggets of content to your audience in a format that they can easily digest and apply it.

Putting content curation into practice is part art form, part science, but mostly about daily practice. You don't need to do it for hours, but a little bit everyday will help you develop and hone the skills. It is best to do the seeking part in small bursts to avoid feeling overwhelmed. One way to be effective is to find the best curators your topic and follow them. It is like sipping fine wine. You have to be organized and know your sources. And you have to scan your sources regularly and thank them.

It is also good to learn from experienced curators and how they hone their craft. Netsquared recently published this summary of tips from nonprofit content curators. You can also learn a lot by looking at the work flow of "master curators" like Robin Good, Howard Rheingold, and Robert Scoble.
Getting Started
Use this questionnaire to help you think through a plan for content curation before you dive into the curation tools. There has been an explosion of tools and you can distracted by useless features. Even better, perhaps focus on the skills with the tools you know how to use already. You might want to integrate the process of content curation into a channel you're already using. Next, you might want to expand to using a couple of the new tools that are specifically designed for content curation.

Here's a few curation tools that are easy to get started.

Storyfy - Storify is a way to tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers. I use storify if I want to capture conference sessions. Here's an example from Zan McColloch Lussier using storify to capture the conversation from a panel " Good Grantmaking: What's Social Media Have To Do With It?" A quick tutorial on how to use it.

Scoop.It - (beta, invite-only) - Scoop.it is a terrific tool for discovering those super nichey, hidden gems relevant to specific topic. Use the dashboard to manage an unlimited amount of sources (websites, RSS feeds, specific social media accounts, etc.) and plug in relevant keywords and date parameters. Scoop.it does the rest and delivers you a constant feed of exactly the type of content you're looking for. Here's my scoop.it lists as well as the lists by some of my favorite curators there. Amy Sample Ward has a review of Scoop.it here.

- BagTheWeb helps users curate Web content. For any topic, you can create a "bag" to collect, publish, and share any content from the Web. Beyond most curation tools' capability, BagTheWeb enables users to build networks of bags. This way bags can be linked together to provide rich and complete information about any topic. Susan Kistler has an example with evaluation resources.

Pearltrees - An extremely powerful tool that aids discovery of new, relevant content by presenting it in a very visual way. The interface builds a hub-and-spoke style tree diagram of content that you search for, discover and collect. Hover over new "pearls" to see at-a-glance previews of the content which you can then "pick", comment upon, and share. Susan Kistler has curated this list on Evaluation.

What are your questions about content curation?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is Content Curation? Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme. The work involves sifting, sorting, arranging, and publishing information. A content curator cherry