Insights Gained from the Implementation of a Content Curation Strategy

Towards the end of 2011 the then new Scoop.it  content curation platform became available online. This precipitated the formulation of a strategy for content curation from the world wide web in close to real time for a niche area within healthcare. The strategy implementation would need to be iterative and undertaken in a stepwise manner in order to meet sustainability goals.

The first topic chosen for a domain on the Scoop.it platform was solid organ donation and transplantation. The focus would predominantly be on curating relevant news, patient stories and other related social media advocacy that would all be of interest to a general audience. The web sub site was named Organ Donation Transplant Matters (ODTM) and a logo generated. For the first 3 months highly selective filters were placed on the RSS feeds via the back end of the Scoop.it platform in order to not overwhelm the resources allocated towards curation activities. When it became apparent after the first month that only 1% of the visible RSS feeds were being posted, the filters were then significantly loosened such that as many information sources as possible could then be tapped into.

Consideration was subsequently given to establishing a second related domain on the Scoop.it platform and this was implemented 4 months after the first. The second sub site would have more of a professional focus and  hence would contain curated reports, guidelines and professional opinion on organ donation and transplantation. This second sub site was named Organ Donation Transplant Matters Resources (ODTMR). Only good quality material would be selected for posting which meant that more highly selective filters were able to be placed right from the start on the RSS feeds for the ODTMR sub site.

So after three years what are the lessons learned? Metrics available via the back end of the Scoop.it platform now provide data on the most reliable sources for posts. In addition the Scoop.it platform has been progressively re-engineered such that there is now far more interaction between the curator and the platform. The low rate of postings onto the ODTM sub site means that the filters for these particular RSS feeds will now be significantly altered (and tightened). 

Whereas for the ODTMR sub site, the RSS feed filters can and will be progressively altered in an ongoing iterative manner to include some of the suggestions which are now beginning to be made available from the Scoop.it end. In addition feedback can be provided to Scoop.it on which types of links are not useful.

This ongoing steady optimization of the RSS feeds for curation purposes, contributes to efficiency and efficacy goals both continuing to be met. With the ongoing increase in online activity year upon year it is apparent that effective content curation requires the use of an online tool that is also changing in parallel to meet the increasing demands of dealing with the burgeoning flow of online information.  

This is part of the humarithm philosophy (the interaction between humans and technology), underpinning the ongoing evolution of the Scoop.it platform from which this curator is one of the many continuing to benefit.