Earlier today, an item in Stephen Downes’ OLDaily took me to a Sue Waters post.
In her discussion of the importance of curation, Sue observes:
Curation is a life skill and an important part of being digitally literate. Educators need to know how to curate information so they can teach students how they can curate content for research, their interests and passion. As part of this process educators need to encourage students to curate information using techniques that address their own personal learning needs.
Her post is a remarkable synthesis of resources. I wondered how much time she had dedicated to researching and writing such a detailed post. It is a very generous, altruistic contribution to communities of practice in education and in other domains.
I was thinking about Sue and Steven when I followed a link to a Huffington Post article about Marc Bresciano. I thought the image from George Sapigidis at the header of this post symbolises their altruism.
I noted Stephen’s response to Sue’s post. He writes:
I reject the term ‘curation’ to describe what I do and what others should do. The term ‘curation’ reflects past practice, as though to legitimize thoroughly contemporary practices by association with the word. Curation suggests that the primary task is selection and filtration, but to me, that’s only a small part of what I do; I’m describing my practice when I recount the works I’ve read. As well, the term ‘curation’ suggests passivity, observation, preservation, and even objectivity. My work is none of these things. I consider myself to be engaging with the authors and works I summarize. This is not the same as curation. It’s something new, something internet.
This left me with a quandary. My concept of curation is defined by engagement and active choice. My practice is fallible, partial, serendipitous and self-consciously subjective.
I do curate resources that resonate with me. Stephen’s work has been a compass for me for over a decade, Sue for slightly less (since 2008). In my “something internet” way this resonance guides my practice. My sense of curation is reflective and dynamic.
It is a Marc Bresciano kind of thing for me.
Photo Credit
World Cup player stops … (article by Ryan Grenoble, image by George Sapigidis)
