The Importance of Curating
Online journalism has increased rapidly over the years, making it easier to gain and spread information world wide. In the text book “Online Journalism” it talks about ways in which this was achieved. Specifically in chapter nine it talks about how curation and links have made the information easier to access for users, helped encourage users to explore similar content, and gave users another perspective on the story.
What is curation and how is it used? Curation is “the gathering, organization, and presentation of existing online content.” This is used in a few ways in online journalism. One way it is used is by using quotes from another story and applying it on your own with the correct citations. Another way it is by mentioning facts and other information that was included in other stories. The idea behind curation is to connect users with content that is already available.
Linking information is one way to organize curation. Links can be added to a story in a few ways.The link should include an overview so users know what it is about before clicking on it. Using 3rd party applications is one of the best ways to use links, this type of link can allow a specific area to be highlighted for users. However it is important that the links that are included “are the most relevant, most reliable and the most compelling” to the users. Links are used as a tool to help the users, so it’s important to choose the right links and not overload the whole story. They should also not be viewed as an afterthought. Meaning the links need to be presented on the right page and section and not all at the end or the beginning of your story. The user needs to be able to access links when the topic they are more curious on appears in the text.
For example, if I were writing a story on Amazon’s corporation employment and I was in the section that talks about how they fired around 14,000 corporate employees, someone might be interested in seeing their reasoning behind it and how it will affect Amazon in the future. In that section I could link a video from NBC News that had an interview with their top human resource executive Beth Galetti. This would allow readers the inside scoop on what’s going on in the world of Amazon. By offering them another perspective of what is going on.
The text book also mentioned other ways in which links are beneficial to a story. Some other ways links are used include: background information, backing up information, and further exploration.
Background information is not necessarily important but does help give the user a little more insight on the topic and it may be something they are interested in. For example if I wrote a report on the previous mentioned Amazon corporation employment the user might want to know how Amazon started, who the creator of Amazon is or who was the very first employee of Amazon.
Backing up information is another way links could be used. According to the text book,this is used when the information you provided in your story is surprising or controversial. For instance, if I wrote in the paper Amazon started with a person delivering things to people on a bike. Some people may be sceptical of this since Amazon has so many different things people can purchase ( many things now larger than a bike) that may not be possible to carry in such a way.
Further exploration is another way to use links. As a journalist our hope is to help users gain as much knowledge as possible. So giving them other information to help them increase their knowledge is a great way to not only ensure they come back to their stories but help them create a better understanding.
Overall curation and linking is one of the most effective ways to help users gain a better knowledge, have easy access to information and help encourage them to continue looking in to information that was provided to them.
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