:: The 4th Era ::

This is a great presentation, containing rich images and video. Alec Couros (@courosa) is making a somewhat fine distinction between digital literacies and digital fluency, but overall, the content of this presentation is what we have explored in CT231 Professional Skills within the context of digital literacies. Worth a view.

Robin Good: In January of 2009 the McKinsey Quarterly published a video interview and a full article entitled "Hal Varian on how the Web challenges managers" in which Google’s chief economist told executives in wired organizations how much they needed a sharper understanding of how technology empowers innovation.

In the video, Hal Varian says something that if you are trying to understand the emerging curation trend, is as relevant (if not more) today as three years ago when it was first published:

"The ability to take data - to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it's going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades, not only at the professional level but even at the educational level for elementary school kids, for high school kids, for college kids.

Because now we really do have essentially free and ubiquitous data.

So the complimentary scarce factor is the ability to understand that data and extract value from it.

I think statisticians are part of it, but it's just a part.

You also want to be able to visualize the data, communicate the data, and utilize it effectively.

But I do think those skills - of being able to access, understand, and communicate the insights you get from data analysis - are going to be extremely important..."

Video interview: http://bit.ly/googlehalvarianoncuration 

(go to the section "Workers and managers")

You will need to register to read the full original article: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Hal_Varian_on_how_the_Web_challenges_managers_2286 

Robin Good: If you are interested in understanding how "content curation" differentiates itself from simple re-sharing and re-blogging here is a great article by Chris DeLine.

Great advice for anyone wanting to become an effective content curator: “Whether in tweets, in blog posts, in podcasts, or in newsletters, be ruthless with your attention.

http://chrisdeline.com/curation

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Beth Kanter wrote a very complete and interesting piece in NTEN's latest edition of their quarterly journal for non-profit leaders. You have to download the journal but it's worth it and it's free (you just need to register). 

Jan Gordon: I agree with Guillaume, Beth Kanter knows what she's talking about and her article is definitely worth reading.

Guillaume Decugis wrote this commentary:

"It's been fascinating for me to see how non-profits seem to embrace Social Media in general and Content Curation in particular - Beth of course being a key advocate in that move.

The broader take-away that I see for those of us in all sorts of organizations, as independant professionals or SMB-owners is the validation it brings to the model. When tightly-budgeted NPO's embrace a practice as a group, you can bet they're not wasting their scarce resources on a hype. They have to be efficient and as Beth puts it in the article: "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 20 minutes every day will help you develop and hone the skills."

This is precisely where we see the opportunity with curation for professionals: building up a good practice that fits with one's daily routine and that -as Beth puts it - brings great "unexpected benefits".

Selected by gdecugis and Jan Gordon covering "Content Curation, Social Business and Beyond"

Read full article here: [http://tinyurl.com/75ucphe]

"Jon Miller of News Corp may have predicted 2012 will see the "channelisation" of the web, but he really means a renewed focus on curation..."

"Channelisation implies that media corporations such as News Corp will be the ones controlling the playlist of content, but 2012 will see the role of such organisations fall back to providing content for others to turn into a wealth of different “channels” where the barrier to entry essentially falls to zero."

Key highlights curated from the article:

Curation of niche interest: channelisation

"...opening up of video on demand services from all these channels will allow much smaller organisations to provide cross-channel curation.

If the channels who provide the content are still showing their ads before, during and after each show, then curators could start channels focusing on more specific interests and smaller niches than a broadcast channel could do – there will be channels dedicated to crime shows, medical shows, shows with appearances from certain actors, and more.

A user will just have to think of a single genre or idea that they want to watch in a show, and there will be a “channel” or that."

The curator
"More interesting than the drive to smaller and smaller niches, which could, at least in part, be algorithmically generated – will be the focus on the curator.

If a user trusts the taste of a journalist, presenter, blogger or other figure – they may be more interested to watch the content that user picks than the content programmed for any particular channel.

...These curators could add to the content by providing commentary from their own knowledge of the content – offering a place where consumers could find a new love."

Social Curation
"...Equally, groups of curators could join together to offer more regular programming than the one-off playlists of individuals, basically creating “channels” without any of the budget and monetary constraints of a real channel.

They would not have to pay for licensing as the content owners will bundle ads with the in-stream content, and so people will curate out of love and interest rather than having to focus on budgetary constraints."

Read the full article here: http://www.techfruit.com/2012/01/12/channelisation-curation/ 

(Curated by Robin Good)