Create curate

This week, we developed our own curation pages and had to compare them.

I explored the list of curation sites very minimally and more or less chose at random, avoiding Pinterest, because I am very familiar with that one. I like trying new things and being surprised. Here are my observations:

Scoop.it— This was the easiest one in my opinion. It mostly populated with a picture that made sense and it did a good job pulling text for the description that matched what the link was about. I enjoyed the feature of adding your own special notes so that it is more than just a Pinterest-like board. To me, this solidifies your value as a curator versus someone who is a dumper. The option to tag was nice, though I’m not sure how well it worked on mine where most of the board is about the same thing.

Sqworl–Of the ones I explored, I liked this one the least. The pictures it grabbed from the links were mostly screenshots, which don’t have the same appeal as a big picture of what the link is about. This was the least artsy option. I also had to enter a lot of things manually and it looked awkward if I had a lot of text. 

Padlet— This was the most beautiful of all of the sites. I loved the flexibility of the multiple background options, and towards the end discovered the option to add color to the background of each post.  

Knowing how to put together curation sites can help my PLN because it demonstrates different ways that I can add value. Maybe a colleague in my PLN would see that I created a psychology curation site and if they had a question about psychology, they might feel more comfortable asking me.

I feel like I was a decent curator in this exercise, not a dumper. But it’s difficult for me to say. Because I have such a developed knowledge base in psychology, it’s difficult for me to know what is the most helpful for beginners. I tried my best, but I think I would really need feedback from others to know whether or not I was effective at this. I chose to link whole blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels. While this shows users a great place to start looking for information, it might be more intimidating than had I chosen single articles on a more narrow topic. 

Let me know if you think I’m more of a curator or a dumper in the comments below! No wrong answer. Feedback helps me get better.