Weekly Report & Reflection blog post #4

I've been having a lot of fun this past  week reading the feeds from my reader. It has proven to be an asset in locating articles of interest and has aided in the efficient use of my time.  Because Feedly is web-based, I have an abundance of RELEVANT information available to me wherever I go. I can keep up-to-date on local and International news and also any topic of interest I have, for recreational reading.

I have also explored some bookmarking tools such as delicious and diigo. I have found Diigo to be a more user friendly platform than delicious, but that's just my personal preference. You can feel free to try both of them out and comment on this blog to let me know what your views are as to those two.

Content Curation involves the sorting through of the endless resources available over the internet on any given topic. It is collated, organized and published into digital presentation much like a newspaper would collate several stories onto one physical printed publication. The difference is that a curator will usually define a specific topic, sift through numerous online articles pick the ones that they find most relevant and publishing those links onto his or her online page. In striving to become a 'reputable' curator, one must be careful not to 'pull' and share random links; The curators that would stand out are those who carefully select the information relevant to his or her niche or circle.

Lets Scoop.it ! ...And so I did.
I decided to explore scoop.it as my curation tool and was fascinated by the simplicity of its design and functionality. It helped me locate content that was of interest to me, or even topics that I needed information on. I was able to scoop them all right onto my publication with ease. It was simple to use, pick your topic, create a heading,then search for relevant content that you can include in your publication. 

Scoop.it will search for all the articles related to the keywords you specify! Even if my first set of keywords does not give me the results that I expected, I can simply modify my search (keywords) criteria until I get exactly what I am looking for. Supplementary course reading on Beth's Blog was quite insightful in outlining what content curation was and how it can be valuable.

I have also installed the app on my android phone and it works quite well. It is just as simple to use, all I have to do is hit the share button and 'share using' scoop.it. That content will be published and automatically synced with all my internet devices. It is similar to  flipboard  in its magazine-like layout but allows for more user interaction and customization which is a neat way of making your publication more personal.  

In maintaining a professional image as a Digital Citizen new curators should be responsible in their publications as they will be deemed your publications hence inferring that you may subscribe (unless otherwise specified) to the views of the articles that you publish. As always, think of the implications of your publications and how you are viewed online now, and 20 years from now.... Be responsible!

Genie