Everyone is a curator these days.
I get it.
But, I for me, its not about curating material alone.
More importantly, it is about value.
I’ve been doing a little reading, and I have been reading a few books on habits, information and communication.
In reading them, I stumbled a series of ideas that add value to any material and content you might want to be responsible for getting out into the world or to a larger audience.
(I’d like to thank Jeff Davidson and Bob Bly for bringing up this stuff in some of their work.)
1. New ideas: When you are curating a collection, you are saying that the stuff you are including has value. But, are you also introducing new stuff that has value that hasn’t been exposed to the larger world? Or, can you take some of the things you are fascinated with an put a new spin to them? That would be new ideas.
2. Immediacy: I have seen a lot of these daily “newspapers” that people Tweet out. In this way, the person that has the paper that is posted is capturing the immediacy of an idea and running it off to a larger audience.
3. Personalize: Here’s your chance to shine. You know yourself and, hopefully, you know your audience. How can you put your unique perspective on information? Or, how can you specially tailor it to your audience?
4. Interpret: I’ve heard it said that people have become much better at having facts in their heads now, but that they aren’t as good about being able to put those facts into play in the real world. Don’t let that be you. Tell your audience what this stuff means. Why it is important. Why it matters.
5. Searchable: If you are doing a good job of curating information, it makes you and your stuff much more valuable. Why? Because it is much easier to search out one trusted person or site than it is to go to 10,000 sites that aren’t equally weighted.
I know that there are only 5 suggestions here and that the list could go on and on, but I think as you try to curate and make more information available to your audience, think about how you are creating value to your guests and readers.
Then, step out a little and make that value apparent. Your readers will thank you and you will see the benefit.
What do you think?