the business of content curation
TRANSCRIPT
The Business of Content CurationThe Future is for Those Who Know How To Organize Information
Robin Good - Amsterdam - Jan. 14th 2015
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Curiosity
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Curiosity
Because, to curate anything, you really need to slow down and pay attention to it.
Actually more than that…
You need to get curious about your subject.That’s how you can curate it.
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Sense-making
Because to effectively curate something you really need to first make sense of it yourself
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Sense-making
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Context - Niche
Because it forces the curator not to focus just on the subject of his workas a standalone item, but to look at it and frame it within a larger, more specific context(think DJ or gallery curator):
the interest of those following him
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Context - Niche
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Evaluate - Vet
Because it forces any author to go beyond representing, reporting or expressing and into questioning, analysing, sense-making of what is already available and relevant out there.
It demands that who takes on this responsibility understands the opportunity and risk offered by having to carefully evaluate whether what has been selected, summarized and distilled is really worth the attention and time of others
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Evaluate - Vet
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Trust
Because the emerging new digital curator is not like the classic journalist, art critic, or newsbeat reporter or blogger. He is not just a connoiseur.He is not just an expert on the subject.He is foremost a truly trusted person.
One we lend the ability to guide us, to uncover for us selected specimen, and to illustrate to us through his eyes, their value, meaning, relationship and purpose.
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Trust
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Ethics - Values
Because to become a truly trusted person,the “go-to” reference point for some,the curator needs to have openly declared values, ethics and preferences of his own.
Because it is through these values(rather than just speed, freshness, popularity, and others) that individuals select their trusted guides and develop deep, long-lasting bonds with them.
Why curation is such a revolutionary art?
Ethics - Values
The curator is a trusted guide who helps others to explore, to discover and make sense of information artifacts within a specific subject-matter area
What follows is a short selection of real-world examples
of how curating a specific information subject
can give life to useful online public services
that can also be economically sustainable
(if not outright profitable).
Daring Fireball
1
John Gruber’s personal viewpointon everything Apple-related
Service offered: A curated analysis of key news and stories relevant to an audience of Mac nerds, designers, nitpickers, perfectionists, and connoisseurs of fine sarcasm.
DaringFireball.net
Business model: Free for all to accessWeekly feed sponsorship + quality ad network (The Deck)
Really Good Emails
2
Best examples of email newslettersorganized by category
Service offered: Curated gallery of commercial email examples from confirmations to newsletter subscription, to offers, promotions and more.
Business model: Free for all to accessLeader of market sponsorship by MailChimp
ReallyGoodEmails.com
One Page Love
3
Best examples of one-page websites
Service offered: Curated gallery of one-page website designs and examples organized by categories, commented and tagged. Includes also resources, interviews, articles and one-page specific themes for web sites.
OnePageLove.com
Business model: Free for all to accessQuality ads and affiliate commissions on templates
Metti da parte e organizza siti web e pagine interessanti
Startup Digest
4
A guide to all upcoming startup-related eventsin a specific country
Service offered: Email newsletter listing all of the upcoming events related to the world of startups for a specific country.
StartupDigest.com
Business model: Free subscriptionPaid sponsorship and priority display of events
OldVersion
5
Archive of older, dismissed versions of most software programs
Service offered: Access to huge archive of older releases of free downloadable software tools from Skype to iTunes, including games and covering PC, Mac and Linux editions. and social contacts of top tech startup journalists
OldVersion.com
Free access to all usersContextual advertising model: Google AdSense
Business model:
PressFarm
6
Collects, organizes and makes it easyto find journalists covering new startups
Service offered:
Business model:
Access to updated and curated database of email and social contacts of top tech startup journalists
PressFarm.com
Free view of all journalists in the database$9 to access all of their emails
Techmeme
7
The most relevant Silicon-Valley newsfor the tech-business-VC community
Service offered:
Business model:
Techmeme was founded in 2005 by Gabe Rivera as an automated news curation service, like Google News, but focused on the leading edge of technology. Starting in 2008, we introduced human editors to complete the editorial process, and have now assembled the team presented on the right. Our experience leads us to believe that a thoughtful combination of both algorithmic and human editing offers the best means for curating in a space as broad as technology. Today, Techmeme remains independent, bootstrapped, and privately held
Free for readersSponsored stories - Who’s hiring - Events promotion
TechMeme.com
SmartBrief
8
The most relevant, must-read newsin your vertical industry sent to you by email
Service offered:
Business model:
A daily snapshot of social business insights with news from AllFacebook, ClickZ and other leading sources. Summaries of what matters to you, written by expert editors to save you time and keep you informed and prepared.
Free for subscribersPaid sponsorships and contextually relevant promotionsfor advertising partners
Smartbrief.com
Briefio
9
Quality book content readand summarized for you
Briefio.com
Service offered:
Business model:
Free membership club providing best-seller book summaries
Sales of individual summaries starting at $4.99
UserOnBoarding
10
Annotated visual analysis of onboardingstrategies utilized by succesfull startups
Service offered:
Business model:
Step by step visual analysis of onboarding process adopted by popular online startups
Sales of training materials starting at $249
UserOnBoard.com
Criterion Collection
11
Curated boutique of quality films re-masteredand bundled with unique additional media
Service offered:
Business model:
Blue-ray re-mastered author films in curated box sets or collections with rare additional materials, including photos, interview, unreleased cuts and clips.
Direct sales of DVDs
Criterion.com
SlideRule
12
trusted guidance to find ideal learn / studycurriculum within open and free access offerings
Service offered:
Business model:
Guided access to the best free courses and learning programs available online. Curated learning paths for specific interests. Workshops on specific topics where students are supported by individual mentors.. Step by step visual analysis of onboarding process adopted by popular online startups
Free access to all basic info and to fully free learning paths.Paid workshops with mentors.Affiliate commissions on promoted paid courses.
SlideRule.com
Business Model Gallery
13
Organized information archive of business modelsutilized by successful companies online and off
Service offered:
Business model:
A structured, filterable and searchable database of all of the available business models utilized by successful companies from Facebook to Foursquare. Each company / business model is captured inside a business model canvas template.
Free access to three business models.Paid subscription to access all database.Training packages that include options going from workshops to keynotes and bootcamps.
BusinessModelGallery.com
The curator is NOT someone who collectsThat person is a collector
The curator is NOT someone who makes listsThat person is a list-maker
The curator is NOT someone who picks the best news to shareThat person is a news editor
The curator is NOT someone who cuts and pastes other people’s work without even crediting itThat person is a thief
The curator is NOT someone who collectsThat person is a collector
The curator is NOT someone who makes listsThat person is a list-maker
The curator is NOT someone who picks the best news to shareThat person is a news editor
The curator is NOT someone who cuts and pastes other people’s work without even crediting itThat person is a thief
The curator is NOT someone who collectsThat person is a collector
The curator is NOT someone who makes listsThat person is a list-maker
The curator is NOT someone who picks the best news to shareThat person is a news editor
The curator is NOT someone who cuts and pastes other people’s work without even crediting itThat person is a thief
The curator is NOT someone who collectsThat person is a collector
The curator is NOT someone who makes listsThat person is a list-maker
The curator is NOT someone who picks the best news to shareThat person is a news editor
The curator is NOT someone who cuts and pastes other people’s work without even crediting itThat person is a thief
The curator is NOT someone who collectsThat person is a collector
The curator is NOT someone who makes listsThat person is a list-maker
The curator is NOT someone who picks the best news to shareThat person is a news editor
The curator is NOT someone who cuts and pastes other people’s work without even crediting itThat person is a thief
The digital content curator
1. does not just collect, it organizeslabels, titles, tags, categorizes, classifies
2. verifies, vets, checksdoes not buy at face value or on the basis of freshness, popularity, bang
3. provides contextintegrates his work in a larger framework that facilitates understanding for novices
4. offers guidanceintroduces to novices, does not take for granted, indicates where to find more
The digital content curator
1. does not just collect, it organizeslabels, titles, tags, categorizes, classifies
2. verifies, vets, checksdoes not buy at face value or on the basis of freshness, popularity, bang
3. provides contextintegrates his work in a larger framework that facilitates understanding for novices
4. offers guidanceintroduces to novices, does not take for granted, indicates where to find more
The digital content curator
1. does not just collect, it organizeslabels, titles, tags, categorizes, classifies
2. verifies, vets, checksdoes not buy at face value or on the basis of freshness, popularity, bang
3. provides contextintegrates his work in a larger framework that facilitates understanding for novices
4. offers guidanceintroduces to novices, does not take for granted, indicates where to find more
The digital content curator
1. does not just collect, it organizeslabels, titles, tags, categorizes, classifies
2. verifies, vets, checksdoes not buy at face value or on the basis of freshness, popularity, bang
3. provides contextintegrates his work in a larger framework that facilitates understanding for novices
4. offers guidanceintroduces to novices, does not take for granted, indicates where to find more
The digital content curator
1. does not just collect, it organizeslabels, titles, tags, categorizes, classifies
2. verifies, vets, checksdoes not buy at face value or on the basis of freshness, popularity, bang
3. provides contextintegrates his work in a larger framework that facilitates understanding for novices
4. offers guidanceintroduces to novices, does not take for granted, indicates where to find more
5. illustrates, showcasesutilizes photos, illustrations, graphs and other visual means to convey meaning
6. shares opinion, evaluationprovides his personal viewpoint and assessment
7. archives, stores, preservessaves a copy of the original for the future
8. updates and expandsrevises, adds, and integrates new valuable information as it becomes available
The digital content curator
5. illustrates, showcasesutilizes photos, illustrations, graphs and other visual means to convey meaning
6. shares opinion, evaluationprovides his personal viewpoint and assessment
7. archives, stores, preservessaves a copy of the original for the future
8. updates and expandsrevises, adds, and integrates new valuable information as it becomes available
The digital content curator
5. illustrates, showcasesutilizes photos, illustrations, graphs and other visual means to convey meaning
6. shares opinion, evaluationprovides his personal viewpoint and assessment
7. archives, stores, preservessaves a copy of the original for the future
8. updates and expandsrevises, adds, and integrates new valuable information as it becomes available
The digital content curator
5. illustrates, showcasesutilizes photos, illustrations, graphs and other visual means to convey meaning
6. shares opinion, evaluationprovides his personal viewpoint and assessment
7. archives, stores, preservessaves a copy of the original for the future
8. updates and expandsrevises, adds, and integrates new valuable information as it becomes available
The digital content curator
9. credits, attributesprovides visible and tangible credit to sources and contributors to help further information discovery
10. disclosesreveals its business and commercial ties, partnerships and interests
11. takes positiondeclares openly what he stands for and why
12. invites collaboration, contributionunderstand and favours the power of inclusiveness and participation
The digital content curator
9. credits, attributesprovides visible and tangible credit to sources and contributors to help further information discovery
10. disclosesreveals its business and commercial ties, partnerships and interests
11. takes positiondeclares openly what he stands for and why
12. invites collaboration, contributionunderstand and favours the power of inclusiveness and participation
The digital content curator
9. credits, attributesprovides visible and tangible credit to sources and contributors to help further information discovery
10. disclosesreveals its business and commercial ties, partnerships and interests
11. takes positiondeclares openly what he stands for and why
12. invites collaboration, contributionunderstand and favours the power of inclusiveness and participation
The digital content curator
9. credits, attributesprovides visible and tangible credit to sources and contributors to help further information discovery
10. disclosesreveals its business and commercial ties, partnerships and interests
11. takes positiondeclares openly what he stands for and why
12. invites collaboration, contributionunderstand and favours the power of inclusiveness and participation
The digital content curator
curation is the future
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